The controversial RU-486 abortion pill, used for more than eight years in France and five years in England, is moving closer to becoming a new method of abortion in the United States.

Facing apparent "fast-track" U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval of RU-486, pro-life activists say they will now concentrate their opposition efforts on grassroots education about the drug's potential dangers.

On July 19, an FDA advisory committee recommended that RU-486-known in the United States as mifepristone-be approved as a "safe" and "effective" method of abortion. The drug, when taken along with another medication for several days, induces abortion during the earliest stages of pregnancy without surgery. It is the first chemical abortion method to be considered by the fda in more than 20 years.

FDA Commissioner David Kessler says the recommendation by his agency's Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee was a "very strong signal" that RU-486 should receive final approval for use in the United States within a few months. Because some researchers have suggested that there may be other "therapeutic" uses for RU-486, the FDA has proclaimed it a "priority drug," which will receive swift attention.

Pro-life leaders acknowledge that with the advisory committee recommendation, prevention of the drug's entrance into the United States is unlikely. They believe the rapid timetable has the blessing of President Clinton.

"Considering the fast track that the drug has been on, one has to presume that the President wants this thing in the public before the elections," says Olivia Gans, spokesperson for the National Right to Life Committee. "He made that promise to the abortion advocacy groups."

Life Issues Institute ...