A brand new examine suggests {that a} capsule used for emergency contraception could possibly be repurposed at the next dose as an abortion drug, offering a potential various to mifepristone, one of many two medicine utilized in the commonest sort of abortion in the US.
Mifepristone has been beneath assault by abortion opponents, with a number of states looking for in federal courtroom to limit its use.
Now utilized in two-thirds of U.S. abortions, mifepristone blocks a hormone wanted to maintain a being pregnant. It’s sometimes used with misoprostol, which causes contractions and bleeding.
Within the examine, 133 girls who had been as much as 9 weeks’ pregnant took a 60 milligram dose of ulipristal acetate, the energetic ingredient within the prescription contraceptive Ella, adopted by misoprostol 24 hours later.
For 97% of them, that drug combo was efficient at inducing an abortion, an effectiveness equal to the mifepristone-misoprostol mixture. 4 girls wanted a process or an extra treatment to finish the abortion.
The 60 milligram dose of ulipristal used within the examine is twice the dose of Ella, a prescription drug used for emergency contraception.
The corporate that makes Ella says on its web site that it received’t finish an current being pregnant. It may be taken as much as 5 days after unprotected intercourse to stop being pregnant.
The findings, revealed Thursday within the journal NEJM Proof, might make emergency contraception a goal of abortion opponents.
“I’m really worried that these results could be misapplied by anti-abortion activists to try to further their assault on contraception,” stated Dr. Daniel Grossman of the College of California, San Francisco, who wrote an accompanying editorial within the journal. Grossman praised the examine however stated extra analysis is required on ulipristal as an abortion drug earlier than medical doctors would prescribe it routinely for that use.
Lead creator Dr. Beverly Winikoff, president of Gynuity Well being Initiatives, a not-for-profit analysis group, stated girls want details about ulipristal, particularly with mifepristone challenged in courtroom.
“At least now we would have an alternative,” Winikoff stated. “I think it’s better to have more things that you could use.”