Ru 486 Misconceptions Myths and Morals - ressourcesfeministes

Claims for RU 486/PG Abortioncommencing therapy.’ This is an extremely long andunacceptable period of time that women must wait to abort(Sitruk-Ware et al., 1990:227–28).A 1990, as yet unpublished Roussel Uclaf study indicatesthat 4.7 per cent of 10,250 women had incomple te abortions, with or without continuing pregnancies, after RU 486/PG treatment. A percentage is abstract; the less abstract factis that this 4.7 per cent constitutes 482 real women for whomchemical abortion not only failed, but who then had to submitto an additional abortion procedure (Aubeny, 1990:3).Translated into the raw truth of human data, the RU 486/PG failure rate is by no means minimal.Bleeding is another area of complication. In several studies,some women were reported to receive blood transfusions.The largest number of transfusions reported in the literaturetook place in the UK Multicentre studies where five out of579 women required both blood transfusions and curettage(UK Multicentre Trial, 1990:482). Sometimes, heavybleeding necessitates an emergency uterine evacuation; othertimes, when a uterine evacuation is performed because of anincomplete RU 486 abortion, the evacuation itself leads toheavy bleeding (Cameron et al., 1986:463).More commonly, studies chronicle bleeding in terms ofits duration and volume. Many articles report severe andprolonged blood loss. Duration of bleeding ranges from oneto 44 days (Rodger and Baird, 1989). The 1990 UKMulticentre Trial mentions that the mean duration of bleedingexperienced by women was almost two weeks.Severe or excessive bleeding, as opposed to duration, isreported in conjunction with treatment regimens. In one studyafter administration of RU 486, nine per cent of womenexperienced heavy bleeding; and when the prostaglandinswere subsequently administered as the second medicationin the treatment, another nine per cent bled heavily. Twodays after the completion of the combination treatment, 16per cent reported heavy bleeding (UK Multicentre Trial,39