Abortion Essay, Research Paper

Gary Allen

English 1023

Effects of RU-486

Women who become pregnant and do not wish to have the child now have a new option, RU-486. When the abortion pill is taken, it has some effects on the female body, the main one being the end of the pregency, and some women have negative physical aspects, and finally some psychological ones also.

RU-486 (abortion pill) is suppose to end the pregnecy and this is how it works. The first pill when taken works by blocking the progesterone, the female hormone made by the ovary. Progesterone is required to maintain life for the fetus. When they are blocked, the developing baby dies. Next pill prostaglandin that causes uterine contractions pushes the baby out (Giovanna 191-197).

Although the pill may sound like a good idea, it does have some bad effects as well. Some of the dangers of RU-486 are severe bleeding, cramps, and diarrhea. The main effect that causes the most damage to the female body is severe bleeding. It has been noted that the average bleeding for most women is ten days. In some instances the patient had to be given a blood transfusion. In rare situations there have been two heart attacks and one death (RU 486 DANGERS AND RISKS 1-2). The abortion pill is not perfect. Sometimes it doesn’t work and if the unborn child is carried to term it can be born with severe disabilities. Therefore women who received RU-486 and it did not work have to have the surgical abortion (RU-486: A DEADLY DRUG 1-3).

The psychological effects of RU-486 can be hard on women also. At first when the pill came around to Europe in 1991 women who received the people were sent home to deliver their dead fetus. Can you imagine what this could do to a woman? I asked one woman, what she thought about it and she said, “It would have torn me apart and that’s gross” (Masters, Amanda, interview, 7 November 2000). Most women are reluctant to get an abortion anyway and to be put though such emotional turmoil. Maybe this is why only six-percent of women in England use this method of abortion.

The RU-486 abortion pill is now an option that pregnant women have. With the end of a life comes certain consequences including physical and psychological sickness. RU-486 causes progesterone blockage and the dead fetus is then released. In the end, the choice is ultimately the woman’s. She has to out weight each of the pros and cons of the RU-486 the abortion pill.

Breu, Giovanna. “Revolution in a Pill.” People Weekly 13 Dec. 1999 191-197

Masters, Amanda. Personal Interview [Abortions] 7 November 2000.

RU- 486: A DEADLY DRUG. Retrieved 7 Nov. 2000

http://www.lutheransforlife.org/abortion/deadly_drug.htm

RU 486 DANGERS AND RISKS. Retrieved 7 Nov. 2000

http://www.prohreinto.org/up15.html.