How will the FDA handle the use of Cytotec?
RU-486 has a low success rate unless it is used in combination with a powerful prostaglandin drug, misoprostol, marketed by Searle under the trade name Cytotec. Cytotec is approved as a treatment for ulcers, and Searle has objected to its use for abortions. See “Searle Warns Against Use of Cytotec in Abortions,” www.nrlc.org/news/2000/NRL09/randy.html. * “Drug-induced abortion” is an accurate and neutral term, while “medical abortion” is confusing and seriously misleading. It appears to be a key element of the abortion industry’s marketing strategy to persuade journalists to stop calling RU-486 an “abortion pill,” and to adopt the contrived marketing term “medical abortion.” In reality, drug-induced abortions are no more or less “medical” than surgical abortions. The term “medical abortion” falsely suggests an abortion performed because of some medical need, when in fact RU-486 will be used almost exclusively for routine, birth-control abortions. * It is grossly inaccurate to state, as
