The "Abortion Pill" RU-486 Has Reduced Clinic Abortions

Abortion rates have dropped but the use of RU-486 is up. The use of a pill to terminate a pregnancy has transformed the need of going to a clinic for an abortion. Since 2000 doctors have been able to prescribe the pill in the United States.

The French pill was first introduced in 2000. It's use has been increasing as abortions have decreased in recent years. More than one in five early abortions are performed before the ninth week of pregnancy. The use of the pill for those pregnancies accounts for 14 percent of total early terminations. Physicians that do not perform abortions have been prescribing the pill.

"The impact and the promise is huge," said Beth Jordan, medical director of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals. "It's going a long way towards normalizing abortion."

By being able to take the pill at home women do not have to deal with picket lines at abortion clinics during an already difficult time.

"It was something I could do at home and be with my husband," nurse Judi Gilbert said of taking the pill. "It was a decision we made together alone, and we were able to take care of it this way alone. It was just a much more private affair."

She added: "I wouldn't say it was easy -- it's never easy to terminate a pregnancy. But in the grand scheme of things, it was much more pleasant than a surgical procedure."

The drug works by blocking the hormone progesterone. The pill is taken in a doctor's office and then the patient returns home to take another pill misoprotol that triggers contractions in essence causing a miscarriage. After two weeks the woman returns to her doctor's to make sure the process worked. In 2006 about 150,000 abortions in the United States were done using this process. The cost of the pill is about $100 compared to the cost of a surgical abortion at $400. More than half of abortion providers offer the pill. That is an increase of 70 percent since 2001. In Europe more than 60 percent of abortions are a result of using the pill. The pill is not without risk. There have been a handful of women who died as a result of severe complications from bacterial infections. Those opposed to abortion of any kind cite this as a reason to be concerned about the method.