March 21, 1995
If the controversial pill RU-486 becomes available to the American public as an emergency contraceptive it will decrease the risk of pregnancy by about eight percent and give women more time to seek treatment after unprotected sex, compared to the current "morning-after" treatment, according to Dr. David Grimes.
Grimes, professor and vice chairman of obstetrics, gynecology and reproductive sciences at UCSF, is now conducting a study at UCSF on the use of RU-486 as an emergency contraceptive treatment, and students from SF State are being sought for the study.
"This study extends the window of opportunity as opposed to the morning-after pill," said Grimes, who has been one of the nation's leading proponents of a woman's right to choose and a leader in the fight to legalize the abortion pill in the United States.
To be eligible for the RU-486 emergency contraceptive study, a woman must be treated with the drug within five days of unprotected sex, as opposed to the three-day limit for the current morning after treatment.
According to Grimes, a recent study done on 600 women using RU-486 as an emergency contraceptive treatment showed an almost l00 percent prevention rate.
Grimes said studies have shown that the use of RU-486 as an emergency contraceptive treatment causes significantly less nausea and vomiting than the use of the morning-after treatment.
The only downside to the use of RU-486 for emergency contraceptive treatment, according to Grimes, is that it is more likely to delay the onset of the next menstrual cycle. "This can be anxiety provoking for women," Grimes said.
Another variable is the morning after treatment is less expensive. The cost of RU-486 is roughly the same as a surgical abortion -- $300 to $350 -- said Sandra Waldman, director of public information for the Population Council.
The Population Council, a non-profit New York organization that acquired the rights to RU-486, is conducting trial tests in the United States on the drug for use as an abortion pill. The tests are expected to end by mid-summer, and the results will be analyzed and submitted to the Food and Drug Administration by the end of this year, Waldman said.
Saying a "conspiracy of silence" exists against women in the United States about their options for emergency contraceptive treatment, Grimes acknowledged that many doctors and most women do not know about the morning after treatment, a legal choice currently available to women.
The morning-after treatment is offered by the Women's Services Clinic in the SF State Student Health Center. Grimes said the name of the emergency contraceptive treatment is misleading because it is available for up to three days after unprotected intercourse and not just the morning after.
The treatment makes use of normal birth control pills, only in a different way. Grimes said the treatment usually consists of swallowing two pills within 72 hours of unprotected sex, followed by two more pills l2 hours later. The number of pills taken at the two intervals can vary depending on the brand of birth control pill used.
"The morning after treatment is a burst of hormone that interrupts the pregnancy process and makes the uterus inhospitable to the development of the fetus," said Susan Feldkamp, a staff nurse at the Women's Services Clinic.
Feldkamp said about five or six women a day come into the clinic worried about pregnancy. "They usually come in very upset saying things like, 'Oh, I had sex last night and the condom broke,'" Feldkamp said.
The Population Council is in the process of selecting a manufacturer and distributor for RU-486, which they hope will be approved sometime in l996 for use in the United States, Waldman said.
"Keeping this drug off the market is a form of discrimination against women," said Feldkamp, who has worked for 12 years in women's health services, both at SF State and for one of the largest women's health clinics on the East Coast.
"Unfortunately, they can't just say this drug is good because it prevents a woman from the embarrassment and anxiety of going into an abortion clinic," Feldkamp said. "Going through a line saying you're killing your baby is the hardest thing for a woman to do."