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RU 486/Prostaglandin: Considerations for Appropriate Use in Low-Resource Settings
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 29 April 2021
Extract
Antiprogestins represent a new class of promising drugs in fertility regulation, especially in early termination of pregnancy. RU 486 (mifepristone), manufactured by Roussel-Uclaf and marketed under the international trade name Mifegyne, is an antiprogestin tablet that is used sequentially with a prostaglandin for non-surgical termination of pregnancy. It has been chosen as a pregnancy termination method by over 100,000 women in France since its regulatory approval there in 1988. In addition, RU 486/prostaglandin was approved in July 1991 for use in the United Kingdom and an application for approval is being considered in Sweden. In Western Europe, it seems, RU 486/prostaglandin is increasingly accepted by medical experts, regulatory officials and women as an alternative to vacuum aspiration or dilation and curettage (D&C) for early pregnancy termination.
As the use of RU 486/prostaglandin becomes more established, health practitioners and women's health advocates are beginning to consider the feasibility of using this method for pregnancy termination in low-resource settings.
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- © 1992 American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics
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