"Despite over a decade of research that testifies to the safety of mifepristone (RU486) and its supplement misoprostol within the context of abortion, the New Zealand anti-abortion movement is parrotting its "fixes" in the United States over the safety of misoprostol." said Craig Young, ALRANZ Research Officer today.

Mr Young acknowledged that there had been a fatality that involved misoprostol within the context of use within pregnancy, but noted that misoprostol had been in use for over a decade in Britain, France and Sweden. He noted that government regulatory agencies and clinical studies in those countries had reported no equivalent complications within the context of medical abortion. In fact, the French Agence de Medicament had forced French doctors to adopt misoprostol after a tragedy that involved sulprostone, another prostaglandin, in 1991.

"In 1995, an American anti-abortionist, Lawrence Roberge, admitted that the US anti-abortion movement was ignorant of pharmaceutical action, and had penned a paper that compared the effects of mifepristone to the palliative medication diethylstrilberol. Sorry, SPUC, Right to Life NZ and satellites. You may be born again but we weren't born yesterday."

Contact: Craig Young 2/353 College St Palmerston North

ALRANZ Research Officer

ph 06 3569099 ext 7750.

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