Ten years ago, after long and bitter debate, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved use of the abortion pill by American women. It is hailed as safe and effective, but new turmoil may lie ahead as the pill's proponents consider using telemedicine to make it more available.
Already, a pioneering telemedicine program in Iowa has provided the pill to about 1,900 women - with a doctor able to consult with a faraway patient in a video teleconference, then unlock a container by remote control to release the pill. To the alarm of anti-abortion activists, abortion providers in other states are pondering whether similar programs would enable them to serve more women, especially in rural areas.
"There are many affiliates that are carefully considering this option, within the confines of their state laws," said Dr. Vanessa Cullins, vice president for medical affairs of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the nation's leading abortion provider.
Initially known as RU-486, the pill was introduced in France in 1988, and anti-abortion activists fought doggedly over 12 years to keep it out of the U.S. The FDA finally gave its OK on Sept. 28, 2000, and nearly 1.4 million American women have used the pill since then.
Affording women more privacy than a surgical abortion, the pill marketed as Mifeprex now accounts for about one-quarter of U.S. abortions performed in the first nine weeks of pregnancy and about 15 percent of all U.S. abortions. In 2008, about 184,000 American women used the pill - up from 55,000 in 2001 even though the overall number of U.S. abortions wasn't rising.
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