Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-sjtt6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-05T09:51:41.206Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

RU 486: What Physicians Know, Think and (Might) Do—A Survey of California Obstetrician/Gynecologists

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 April 2021

Extract

Although RU 486 has been the subject of extensive research and media coverage, in the United States the actual clinical use of the drug remains largely a theoretical possibility. California is the site of the only American clinical research on the use of RU 486 for termination of early pregnancy, and the California state legislature has adopted a strongly-worded resolution in favor of the testing and use of RU 486 in the state. However, the degree of physician awareness, the nature of physician opinion and the potential use patterns of this drug remain speculative.

To gain a better picture of what the physicians most likely to utilize RU 486 think about the drug, licensed California obstetricians and gynecologists were surveyed regarding their opinions about RU 486. The physicians were queried about their general awareness of the history of RU 486, their level of confidence in the existing data regarding the drug and their possible plans to administer the drug clinically if it were to become available.

Type
Medical and Health Services Issues
Copyright
© 1992 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Lader, Lawrence, RU 486: The Pill That Could End the Abortion Wars and Why American Women Don't Have It (New York: Addison-Wesley, 1991).Google Scholar
Perlman, David, “Support for Abortion Pill Tests”, San Francisco Chronicle, Oct. 10, 1991, p. 12.Google Scholar
Baulieu, Etienne-Emile, “Contragestion and Other Clinical Applications of RU 486, an Antiprogesterone at the Receptor”, Science, 245 (Sept. 22, 1991):13511357.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hodgen, Gary D., “Antiprogestins: The political chemistry of RU 486”, Fertility and Sterility, 56 (Sept. 1991):394395.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maurice, John, “Improvements Seen for RU-486 Abortions”, Science, 254 (Oct. 1991):253254.Google Scholar
Mastroianni, Luigi, Donaldson, Peter J. and Kane, Thomas T., “Development of Contraceptives—Obstacles and Opportunities”, New England Journal of Medicine, 322 (Feb. 15, 1991):482484.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Richards, Cory and Gold, Rachel Benson, “RU 486: Medical Breakthrough Held Hostage”, Issues in Science and Technology, (Summer 1990):7478.Google Scholar