6A
Thursday, August 31, 1995
NATION/WORLD UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Doctors find new abortion method
The Associated Press
BOSTON — Doctors can quickly and safely induce abortions at home with a combination of two drugs already on the market for other uses, researchers reported in a study that could pre-empt the political debate over whether to make the French abortion pill available in the United States.
The two-drug combination may be as effective as the French abortion pill, RU-486, which is undergoing testing in this country. The two kinds of drug-induced abortions have not yet been compared directly, and neither is likely to work as well as a surgical abortion..
Richard Hauskecht, a gynecologist at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, tested the new approach on women in their
first nine weeks of pregnancy. It involves a combination of methotrexate, a widely used cancer drug, and misoprostol, an ulcer medicine. Methotrexate destabilizes the uterine lining, and misoprostol triggers contractions that expel the fetus.
The combination induced abortions in 171 of 178 pregnant volunteers, or 96 percent. Other studies show that RU-486, the French pill, is about 95 percent effective.
Any doctor can legally prescribe the new combination for abortion, even though the medicines have not been approved by the FDA for this purpose. Because so few studies about the technique have been published, however, doctors may be vulnerable to malpractice lawsuits if something goes wrong.
"We would urge women and their doctors to use this regimen as part
of a controlled clinical trial and would not do it routinely," said FDA Deputy Commissioner Mary Pendergast.
Hausknecht said, however, he knows of several doctors in the United States and Canada, whom he declined to identify, who are helping women abort fetuses this wav.
This kind of abortion requires two visits to the doctor. During the first visit, the patient gets an injection of methotrexate. A week later, she receives four misoprostol tablets that are placed in the vagina and held in place by a tampon. Then she goes home and usually aborts the fetus within 24 hours. The main side effects are bleeding and mild-to-moderate pain.
Hausknecht said a half-hour counseling session is essential before the abortion.
"The bleeding and cramping can be unpleasant," he said. "They could panic if they don't know what to expect. I explain it in graphic terms."
He said none of the women suffered any significant emotional distress or depression as a result of the abortions. They overwhelmingly preferred the medical termination of their pregnancies to surgical abortion.
The National Right to Life Committee in Washington, however, opposes the new approach and questioned its mental effect.
"The use of these drugs places women in the precarious position of aborting away from the doctor's office," said Laura Echevarria, a spokeswoman. "No one knows the psychological ramifications of a woman seeing her unborn child aborted before her eyes."
Activist might return to China despite risks
The Associated Press
MILPITAS, Calif. — Human-rights activist Harry Wu thanked his neighbors for their support during his two-month imprisonment in China, and said he may return there one day despite the threat of a lengthy prison term.
"I'm so very proud to be defended by my fellow Americans," Wu said after cutting yellow ribbons from his hometown's city hall. "I will never, never forget this."
Wu's wife, Ching-Lee Wu, and city officials had tied the ribbons on two pillars, vowing that he would take them down.
Wu spent 19 years in Chinese prisons before emigrating to the United States in 1985. He later became a U.S. citizen and has returned to China several times to secretly document conditions in prison labor camps.
He was arrested at the border on June 19 and was convicted of spying last week. Amid pressure from the Clinton administration, China expelled him the same day.
Wu, a scholar at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University, still faces a 15-year prison term if he is caught returning to China. He hasn't ruled out a return trip someday but intends to rest before making plans.
He also urged people not to forget those in Chinese prisons who labor to make goods for Western businesses.
"These individuals also must be defended by the people of the whole world — including Americans," Wu said. "They must not be forgotten simply because they do not have the protection of an American passport."
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