Ru 486 Misconceptions Myths and Morals - ressourcesfeministes

RU 486Commenting on Hirochi Nagashima, the head of WHO’sreproduction unit, Baulieu said, ‘The man says he’s afraidthat American money will be cut off if an RU 486 programcomes under the WHO umbrella’ (Riding, July 29:15).Baulieu felt strongly that this impasse must be ended, andthat because of ‘its simplicity…RU 486 could have a dramaticeffect in reducing the number of illegal abortions and relatedmaternal deaths and injuries throughout the third world.’ Ashe put it: ‘How can we ignore that 500 women die every dayas a result of badly executed abortions?’ Distancing himselffrom Baulieu’s accusations, Roussel Uclaf’ s Chairman Sakizresponded that marketing in the third world ‘would be thequickest way to sabotage the product’. Following fromdiscussions with Chinese and Indian health authorities Sakizsaid, ‘they told me it would be impossible to control a productof that kind in their countries’ (Nau, 1990 August 19:16).During his mission to Australia and New Zealand inNovember 1990, Etienne Baulieu refused to discussproblems with the drug. Asked about possible malformationsin the babies of women who continue pregnancies after thefailure of RU 486, he said: ‘You have to take my word.’When asked about administration of RU 486/PG in the socalleddeveloping world, he commented that the situationwas so bad anyway that the pill would be an improvement:22Don’t tell me it would be perfect. Nothing is perfect includingparticularly in developing countries in terms of health andwomen’s health. But if, for the reason [sic] I’ve said, noanaesthesia, no infection, no perforations, it will be aprogress. We’ll see a few catastrophes. But remember we willprobably reduce the death toll by I don’t know, 90 per centor something, because all these horrible complications willbe wiped out by the use of a medical technique. (NewztelLog, Radio New Zealand: 8, emphasis ours). 17The risk of ‘a few catastrophes’ became real when the French