Ru 486 Misconceptions Myths and Morals - ressourcesfeministes

Introductionused widely for years as an abortion method with painfuland tragic consequences (see Chapter Four). The reluctanceof the medical profession to publish these results has createdan unawareness of just how dangerous prostaglandins arefor women.How have the comparisons between conventional andchemical abortions been treated? Comparisons have beenframed as ‘surgical versus chemical’ abortion when, in reality,most conventional abortions do not and should not requiresurgery nor general anaesthesia. Also, what is the languagethat governs the representation of RU 486/PG to the public?Finally, what are the unasked and unanswered questions?The interests, health, and safety of women cannot beserved by relegating these issues to the background. As badas the political climate may be in the United States and othercountries surrounding women’s right to abortion, we cannotallow that climate to dictate acceptance of a combination drugtreatment that has not been investigated critically, and froma non-aligned perspective, i.e. a perspective not affiliated withthe interests of the medical researchers, drug companies, andpopulation control organizations. We also cannot allow theeuphoria over RU 486/PG to decrease or eliminateconventional abortion centres and methods. If chemicalabortions become the dominant treatment, and in future yearsthe dangers are realized, women may well be faced withsubstantially reduced conventional abortion services.Although it is claimed that RU 486 has been given to over60,000 women in France, there is more about the drug thatis unknown than known. It has been used extensively inonly one country for a short period of time. It has beenadministered in France to a homogeneous population—whiteand middle class—a country in which surgical, not suction,abortion is the dominant alternative to chemical abortion.We know very little about its differential impact on womenof color. Black women have a significantly higher incidenceof fibroids, and Native American women have a higher7