Source: Source: Pro-Life Infonet Washington, DC

Date October 22, 2000

- In the aftermath of the FDA's decision to authorize the use of the dangerous abortion drug RU 486, abortion facilities and health centers in various states and localities are deciding whether or not to dispense the abortion drug. In Michigan, while the University of Michigan's Health Service is still planning on not offering RU-486, there are still local options for obtaining the abortion drug. UHS Interim Director Robert Winfield said UHS plans to provide "options counseling" for students considering taking the drug. The counseling would be a "neutral non-moral" review of the choices an individual has when she is pregnant. UHS will also refer women to further counseling such as Counseling and Psychological Services. The University Hospitals and Planned Parenthood of Ann Arbor are also planning to dispense RU 486, but they do not have a definite idea of when they will begin prescribing the pill. Winfield said the only school in the Big Ten considering disepnsing Ru 486 is the University of Wisconsin at Madison. Scott Spear, clinical director at Wisconsin's University Health Services, said the question is whether dispensing RU 486 is a needed service when there are various abortion facilities that could. "Most Big Ten schools are in big cities and so universities won't be able to provide a lower cost or significant advantage to students by distributing mifepristone," Spear said, adding that if there was significant support from Wisconsin students, the school would probably disepnse RU 486. Wisconsin is at a slight disadvantage for disepnsing RU 486, Spear said. Other health centers such as the University's may have access to ultrasound equipment to determine the age of pregnancy, while Wisconsin does not. Meanwhile, the Louisiana State University Student Health Center will not disepnse RU 486 because the center does not have the equipment necessary to safely administer the drug. The Health Center staff met to discuss the issue and become familiar with information about the abortion pill before deciding not to offer it, said Dr. Timothy Honigman, chief of staff for the Student Health Center. "We tried to make a medical decision, and that's what we've done," Honigman said. In order to disepnse RU 486 someone must determine if a woman is still in the first 49 days of pregnancy, he said. To accurately determine a date, doctors must perform an ultrasound, he said. "We don't have that," Honigman said. In addition to ultrasound equipment, the Health Center would also need to handle surgical emergencies in order to prescribe the drug, he said. "Some women will have excessive bleeding that will require surgery to correct," Honigman said. Health Center doctors do not have the equipment to perform emergency surgery, he said. "We are not a surgical facility," Honigman said. Since the Food and Drug Administration approved the pill, the Health Center doctors have not received any requests or inquiries from patients about RU-486, Honigman said. In Massachusetts, administrators at Harvard's University Health Services (UHS) remain undecided over whether to have Ru 486. According to UHS Director Dr. David S. Rosenthal, UHS "will be following the advice of the gynecologists at the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston" as to whether and how it should be offered. It is possible that students could receive RU 486 through the UHS pharmacy. Students "with strong moral objections to sharing the cost of elective abortions" can apply for a refund of the portion of their $1 fee used for this purpose. The option, outlined in the Guide to UHS, was exercised by 271 students last year. In New Jersey, one lawmaker wants taxpayer funds to cover the costs for state employees who want RU 486. Pro-abortion assemblyman Neil Cohen, D-Union, wrote to the state Division of Pensions and Benefits seeking the addition of the dangerous abortion drug in the state Health Benefits Plan. State approval would send a signal to private insurance companies that they, too, should cover the pill's cost, the lawmaker said.