RU-486 is most effective if used within 19 days of the woman's last missed period or five to seven weeks from her last menstrual period (also expressed as a maximum of 49 days from her last menstrual period).

Steps for an RU-486 Abortion:

1. Woman goes to clinic, gets pelvic exam. 

2. Woman returns to clinic to take three RU-486 tablets.

3. Two to three days later, woman again returns to clinic for Prostaglandin, (either injection, suppository or oral), then waits three to four hours at clinic. (IMPORTANT NOTE: RU-486 is not very effective as an abortifacient alone. It must be administered in conjunction with another abortifacient chemical--prostaglandins--whose primary action is strong uterine contractions. Therefore, RU-486 should be referred to as RU-486/PG since it is never administered alone. Prostaglandins are a steroidal class of chemicals that of themselves have serious side-effect profiles. Thus in reality a dangerous chemical "cocktail" is offered to innocent and susceptible women in the name of privacy and choice.)

4. If the abortion does not occur during the wait at the clinic, woman returns home to wait for baby to be expelled from womb.

5. Woman returns to clinic for another exam to make sure abortion was complete. If not complete, woman must undergo D&C abortion.  (Approximately 5% of women fail to have a complete abortion with the RU 486/PG technique.) Side Effects:  Extensive bleeding with approximately 10% experiencing very heavy bleeding. Severe pain (Roussell Laboratories admits that 30% of the women having RU-486/Pg abortions require narcotic analgesics), nausea, diarrhea.

The long term side-effect profile is not known and has not been studied. Because of the nature of this potent steroidal based chemical, the potential for side-effects both immediate and long-term is very real. Psychologically and morally, the trauma lasts indefinitely in most women. The decision to abort must be made quickly in the case of RU-486 since the "window of opportunity" is so short in duration. The time when a woman first becomes aware that she is pregnant is when she is most vulnerable to the abortion rhetoric. The panic from the discovery of an unwanted pregnancy brings about hasty but irreversible decisions, even greater than with surgical abortion, the source of serious future trauma.

RU-486 was licensed for use in the United States, in April 1993, to the Population Council, that holds the license for NORPLANT (Tm). (All statistics contained here are documented.
Address inquiries to PFL P.O.BOX l28l, POWELL 0H. 43065-281)

Reprinted with permission from People For Life, Ohio.