4a
Opinion
Wednesday, October 11, 2000
or comments, contact Ben Embry or Emily Hughey at 864-4924 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com
Editorial board: RU-486 increases freedom of choice
Mifepristone offers women a safer option
T the approval of RU-486 was a sound decision that should perhaps have been taken a few years earlier.
On September 28, the Food and Drug Administration approved mifepristone, most commonly known as RU-486, for the termination of early pregnancy.
RU-486 has been legal and in use in France since 1988 and also is legal and available in 10 other European countries.
RU-486 can terminate a pregnancy in the first nine weeks. A woman can receive the drug as soon as she knows that she is pregnant. It is administered orally, under the supervision of a physician, and requires no surgical procedure.
Since abortion has always been and still is a source of great controversy in the United States, it is not hard to understand why it has taken us so much longer to legalize an abortion-inducing drug. However, RU-486 gives women who decide to have an abortion the option of a much easier and safer procedure. The drug also may be effective in treating a range of serious diseases, most of which particularly affect women. In February 1991, the American Association for the Advancement of Science endorsed the testing and use of RU-486. However, anti-abortion politics in the United States not only prevented its use as an abortion inducing-drug, but also forestalled most of the clinical trials of RU-486 as a treatment for serious diseases. Such diseases include meningioma, endomitrosis, fibroid tumors, breast and ovarian cancers and Cushing's Syndrome.
- Opponents of RU-486 claim that it is less safe than a surgical abortion and that chemical abortion is more emotionally traumatic for the mother.
It is true that the drug, just as every drug, cannot be used by all women, and that in certain cases, such as ectopic (tubal) pregnancies, the use of RU-486 is prohibited. It also is true that in about 2 precent of the cases it can cause severe bleeding. But under the terms of FDA approval, the drug will only be distributed to physicians who can accurately determine the length of the pregnancy, detect an ectopic pregnancy and provide surgical intervention in cases of incomplete abortions or severe bleeding.
On the other hand, women who undergo surgical abortions run the risks of scarring, infection or even permanent infertility. If a drug can achieve the desired effect in an almost risk-free manner, there is no reason why that drug should not replace the surgical procedure when possible.
As far as the emotional side is concerned, an abortion, by definition, cannot be a trauma-free experience, whether it is performed surgically or chemically. It is not conceivable how one procedure would cause more emotional trauma than the other. Thus, if a woman chooses to do it, she should be able to choose the procedure that incurs the least risk upon her physical health.
Since abortion is legal in the United States, it is inconceivable not to give women the option of a safer procedure when such a procedure is available.
KU Students for Life: RU-486 is not a viable solution
Abortion pill tarnished by a dangerous reality
The FDA approved the distribution of the abortion drug RU 486 last month in the United States. Pro-choice advocates are rejoicing, claiming that now women can have easier, safer and more private abortions. KU Students For Life disagrees, based in part on the dangerous reality of the RU 486 experience described below.
dangerous reality of the RU-486 experience described below.
First, a woman finds that she is pregnant. Scared and possibly alone, she visits the doctor to discuss her options.
bly alone, she visits the doctor to discuss her options. The doctor counsels the woman to use RU-486. The promises of ease and privacy convince her that this is her best option. At this visit, the woman takes the first set of pills, mifepristone, which blocks the progesterone needed in pregnancies. This drug was tested in the U.S., but according to the New England Journal of Medicine, women with many different conditions were excluded from the test, including women with allergies and asthma, women younger than 18 or older than 35, and women who had used an IUD or oral contraceptive in the previous three months.
Two days later, the woman returns to receive the second pill, cytotec. This drug induces the contractions needed to miscarry the child. Searle, the manufacturer of this pill, which is usually used to control ulcers, has vehemently warned against the use of the drug for an unintended purpose, namely abortion. Searle warns that severe vaginal bleeding, shock, pelvic pain, and uterine rupture requiring hysterectomy can occur when cytotec is used for abortions.
If the delivery does not occur in the next four hours, the woman leaves the office still pregnant. The miscarriage can then occur at any time, anywhere (store, dorm room, restaurant) in the next 14 days. This is where the true emotional danger enters. The woman sees the child that is miscaried, who may already have developed a head, arms legs and a beaten
child that is miscarried, who may already have developed a head, arms, legs and a beating heart. If you don't believe this will be traumatic, ask any woman who has had a miscarriage. The emotional stress could haunt her the rest of her life.
Considering that RU-486 may cross the blood follicle barrier and enter the woman's eggs, the effects on future "wanted" pregnancies could be devastating.
That makes three trips to the doctor, two doses of pills, and one miscarriage — maybe. Not to mention a medical profession that increasingly devalues life and a culture that, despite lofty rhetoric to the contrary, still does not welcome all children into the world.
Those concerned about women need to let the government know that they have made a grave mistake. E-mail kusfli@raven.cc.ukans.edu to find out more and how to help.
Cynthia Malakasis for the editorial board
Scott Wallisch for KU Students for Life
Kansan tries to focus on student-related news
Have you noticed anything different about the Kansan lately? In the last week, we've included international news on the front page. That's an unusual diversion from the front-page news we usually include, which focuses more on students and campus issues. We try to play up issues that hit close to home such as minority enrollment, campus crime and lighthearted stories of interest to students, such as mega-fans of Phish.
Judging from the buzz in my classes, many of you weren't as interested in a story about women living together who menstruate together. We may not always be on target, but for the most part we
As a student newspaper, our main goal is to focus our coverage on campus issues and people.
try to pick "news you can use." As a student newspaper, we cover what we know — hometown issues like concerts and parking problems.
Erin R.
Barcomb
readers'
representative
reader@marsan.com
If we could afford to send someone overseas to cover the Middle East or Eastern Europe, I'm sure we'd have tons of reporters lined up. But if we're going to start foreign bureaus, the ad staff better start some massive sales campaigns.
That's why we leave the national and
international news up to the Associated Press and CNN. It seems like students would read the Kansan to get local news and go to USA Today or broadcast television for national and international coverage.
For many of you, though, we may be your main source of national and international news. The perception that college students don't care about what's going on in the country and the world, aside from what bar has the best drink special tonight, obviously is a fallacy.
Studies and research say young people aren't reading newspapers and are getting their news in different ways, if they're getting news at all. Judging by the interest KU students have for national and international issues, maybe there is hope after all.
This year, we've tried to include more off-campus news, and lately, it's been making the front page.
When possible, we localize international stories. For the story about Slobodan Milosovic's resignation, we found Yugoslavian students to comment. The better national and international coverage is that which is relevant to students.
We also try to devote an inside page to national and international stories when space makes it possible. We didn't decide to make that effort on a whim. You told us that's what you wanted.
So keep looking. We may just surprise you.
Barcomb is a Wichita senior in journalism
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. The Kansan reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Slanderous statements will not be printed. To read more, go to www.kansan.com.
The people who tie red and blue balloons for every home game are the definition of school spirit.
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I hope Dennis Miller isn't planning on staying with Monday Night Football for long. He is a terrible commentator.
The UDK shouldn't be publishing the words "penis" and "vagina." It's just wrong.
I liked the column about cheese, but what if you're lactose intolerant?
will be a cure.
will be a cure.
I want people to stop hounding me for smoking. By the time I'm old enough to die from it, there
--it's nice to see our sports section is all for K-State.
The Kansan movie critic must have seen another movie when she reported on Meet the Parents. I thought it was hilarious.
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I worked at Taco Bell this summer. I just want to say there was no blood on the Chalupa. It was all a conspiracy.
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I have no problem with RU-486.
it's nice to see our sports section is all for K-State.
We would have a good football team if our only running back weren't the quarterback.
I've got a hot girl in my room and it's after midnight, and my mom can't tell me to make her leave. I love college.
To all the girls who live at GSP:
the top parking lot is one-way.
it's nice to see our sports section is all for K-State.
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All this time, I thought I was the only one eating rocks.
冒
It's freezing on Daisy Hill. Will someone turn on the heat in McCollum?
RU-486 — it's supposed to be a personal choice, but what about personal responsibility when it comes to conceiving the fetus?
The residents of Jayhawker Towers should stop complaining about the heat and think about the hobo who lives in their attic.
it's nice to see our sports section is all for K-State.
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They should hard out prizes for people who finish the crossword in the Kansan.
The Nebraska Huskers may not win big or pretty, but they always win. That's why they should and are number one.
it's nice to see our sports section is all for K-State.
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Terry Allen needs to start calling some intelligent plays. Otherwise, he should be fired.
typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
Let my professors know I'll show up to class once I thaw out.
偏
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If you know anyone who left the game after the first half, and they don't know the end results, you should tell them they missed one hell of a game.
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