Ru 486 Misconceptions Myths and Morals - ressourcesfeministes

What Is RU 486 and How Does It Work?villi remained intact after administration of the drug and thuscontinued to nourish the embryo. Sitruk-Ware suggested thatthis might explain why RU 486 is most effective in veryearly stages of a pregnancy, that is before day 29, or whenthe size of the conceptus (embryo) measured by its sacdiameter is less than 10 mm. Such an early cut-off dateseverely limits the number of women who might use RU486 with some assurance of success: it is highly unlikely thatmany women realize before day 29 following their last periodthat they might be pregnant.Others maintain that gestational sac size and time since awoman’s last period are less important than the drug regimenused and initial ß-hCG values in predicting chemical abortionoutcomes (Grimes et al., 1990). U.S. researcher DavidGrimes reached this conclusion after administering no lessthan 13 different treatment regimens to 271 women betweenJuly 1984 and January 1989. The multiplicity of drugprotocols reflects how women are experimented upon in atrial-and-error fashion.Grimes et al. concluded that 600 mg per treatment—a veryhigh dose—works best. This dosage coincides wi th that nowcommonly used in France. However, a WHO MulticenterTrial involving eight centers used multiple but significantlylower doses: 25 mg for three or four days (1989a). Paul vanLook from the WHO Taskforce on Post-Ovulatory Methodsfor Fertility Regulation pointed out that ‘…these findingssuggest that it may be possible to obtain the same rate ofcomplete abortion with much lower doses of mifepristonethan the 600 mg dose currently recommended by themanufacturer’ (van Look, 1990:3). Some other researchersstate that success is independent of dosage, e.g. the study ofBeatrice Couzinet et al. which used 400, 600 and 800 mgregimens (1986); and the study of Régine Sitruk-Ware et al.which used four different drug regimens (1990).We therefore find it highly questionable that thousands ofFrench women are now given a single drug dose of 600 mg63