You look
ravishing!
Elegant, classic, exquisite
jewelry to bring out the
best in you.
• CjOIDWORKS
JL'A C._R.Y ART ATUPR?
169 r. Broadway • 34 3 .2298
Bring in your old games for cash or trade
[ BRINGINTHIS AD ]
for$5.00off
purchase of used video games
(minimum *20 purchase)
Not valid with any other offer. Expires 11-15-00
Check out our new video gaming chair
www.videogamingchair.com
Largest distributor of used games anywhere
0099251
1508 Coburg Rd.
Ferry Street Bridge
683-5598
2880 Willamette
South Eugene
302-3082
Little Caesars'
Weekend Special!
Saturday & Sunday
Hot
Lum® ita®
1711 Willamette
343-33^0
W/E. CAR.EL ££>0\J[ \VlIAT Y^U TJ-llNl4l
W/LEJ^LY (2.ELAPEJ2. P0LL5. tfNlLINt ®
Joil^rcfflcioM
FDA permits use of RU-486
By Lauran Neergaard
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — Capping a
bitter 12-year battle, the govern
ment on Thursday approved use of
the abortion pill RU-486, a major
victory for abortion-rights advo
cates that could dramatically alter
abortion in this country.
The long-expected decision by
the Food and Drug Administration
allows Americans an early-abor
tion method already used in
France, Britain, China and 10 oth
er countries. The action is expect
ed to make abortion in the United
States more accessible and more
private.
Coming in the final weeks of the
presidential campaign, the move
also is sure to renew fierce politi
cal debate. Republican candidate
George W. Bush, whose father’s ad
ministration banned RU-486 im
ports in 1989, opposes abortion.
Vice President Gore supports the
pill option.
The pill, known chemically as
mifepristone and by the brand
name Mifeprex, will be available
to doctors within a month.
Mifepristone, which blocks a
hormone vital to sustaining preg
nancy, only works during the first
seven weeks of pregnancy, when
an embryo is about one-fifth of an
inch; that is earlier than surgical
abortions often are offered.
Two days after taking mifepris
tone, women take a second drug
that causes cramping and bleeding
as the embryo is expelled, much
like a miscarriage.
“For those who choose to have
an early termination of their preg
nancy, this is a reasonable medical
alternative,” said FDA Commis
sioner Jane Hehney, who approved
mifepristone leased on studies that
found it 92 percent to 95 percent
effective in causing abortion.
Complications are rare; serious
bleeding occurs in 1 percent of
women. But the pill-caused abor
tion requires three doctor visits
and, to ensure it is performed ac
curately, the FDA restricted its use
to doctors with certain training
and mandated that detailed pa
tient-information brochures be giv
en to every woman.
Proponents hailed the FDA’s
move. Although some doctors al
ready use a cancer drug called
methotrexate to cause abortion —
legal, although not formally FDA
approved — they said mifepris
tone will increase access to the
nonsurgical method.
“At long last, science trumps
anti-abortion politics and medical
McCarthyism,” said Eleanor Smeal
of the Feminist Majority Founda
tion.
Mifepristone may “turn the tide
against anti-choice intimidation,”
because doctors who don’t offer
surgical abortion can use the pill
in private offices instead of pro
tester-targeted clinics, added
C ( For those who choose
to have an early termina
tion of their pregnancy,
this is a reasonable
medical alternative.
Jane Henney
FDA Commissioner
Planned Parenthood president
Gloria Feldt.
But anti-abortion groups, which
fought mifepristone by threatening
U.S. drug companies with boy
cotts, pledged to continue fighting.
“We will not tolerate the FDA’s
decision to approve the destruc
tion of innocent human persons
through chemical abortion,” said
Judie Brown of the American Life
League.
“Never before has the FDA ap
proved a drug intended to kill peo
ple,” said Rep. Tom Coburn, R
Okla., who promised legislation
calling for severe limits on which
doctors could administer mifepris
tone.
On the campaign trail, Bush
called the FDA’s decision “wrong,”
saying “I fear that making this
abortion pill widespread will
make abortions more and more
common.” His campaign said if
elected, Bush wouldn’t have the
authority to overturn the FDA’s de
cision, but he would order a probe
of whether the agency’s review
was influenced by politics.
Gore praised the pill’s availabili
ty. “Today’s decision is not about
politics, but the health and safety
of American women and a
woman’s fundamental right to
choose,” he said.
Health experts note abortions
did not increase when RU-486 de
buted in France in 1988, or later
across Europe.
The pill’s journey to the United
States began in 1994, when French
manufacturer Roussel-Uclaf
turned over U.S. rights to the drug
to the nonprofit Population Coun
cil of New York. The council began
clinical trials needed for FDA ap
proval and created Danco Labora
tories, a small company that will
market mifepristone.
The FDA in 1996 declared
mifepristone a safe and effective
early abortion method, but delayed
full approval because Danco had
problems satisfying manufacturing
and other final requirements.
President Clinton said the FDA’s
four-year investigation shows the
decision was “purely one of sci
ence and medicine.” He said the
FDA “bent over backward to do a
lot of serious inquiries. ... They
took so long to try to make sure
they were making a good deci
sion.”
But the National Right to Life
Committee condemned the FDA’s
unprecedented decision to let Dan
co keep secret the identity of the
manufacturer, reportedly located
in China, that actually makes the
pills.
“The public has a right to know
whether the abortion pill will be
imported from the People’s Repub
lic of China, a nation that is a lead
ing source of tainted drugs,” NRLC
said.
FDA’s Henney cited anti-abor
tion violence in her decision to
keep the manufacturer secret and
to keep secret the names of FDA
employees who scrutinized the
drug. The FDA also increased se
curity in some of its offices.
“The climate around the repro
ductive rights issue and personal
safety issues are in our minds,” she
said.
But FDA inspectors did travel to
the mifepristone factory, and it
passed all federal safety and quali
ty rules, she said.
Virtual Office Systems Inc.
tn Partnership with
The University of Oregon Bookstore
3131 West Uth Ph. 343-8633 Open Mon-Sat 10-6
AMDK7 Athlon
750Thunderbird
$1139.99
• Microstar MS 6330 Board
• 16 MB TnT 2 AGP Video
• 20 GB A TA 66 Drive
• 64 MB 100 MHz SDRAM
• 17”.27SVGA Monitor
With Athlon 800, $1159.99
With Athlon 850, $1249.99
Add 100 MB Zip Drive $90
Back to
School with
VOS and
AMD!
AMD Duron600®
“Power Player”
$749.99
• Microstar MS 6330 Board
•8 MB TnT2 AGP
• 15 Gig AT A 66 Drive
• 64 MB 100 MHz SDRAM
• Monitor Additional
AMD Duron 650, $879.99
AMD Duron 700, $879.99
Add 100 MB Zip Drive, $90
All systems include A TX case, Windows 98 Se or Me,, 52X CD, 56K v. 90
modem, mouse, keyboard, floppy, sound, speakers, 1 Year parts/ 2 Years labor
VOS Inc. Systems are also available at the UO Bookstore. Parts available only at VOS Inc,
Prices good through 10/6/00. AMI). K7. Duron. AMD logo and 3DNavv! arc trademarks of AMD. Inc. Specs subject to change. Go Ducks!