| Choice USA Celebrates Mifeprex Birthday |
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Anti-Choice Politicians Continue Attack on Women’s Options
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 28, 2006 CONTACT: Rebecca Wiegand (o) 202-965-7700 (m) 202-427-7450 Washington, DC – On the 6th anniversary of the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) approval of mifepristone, also known as RU-486, Choice USA celebrates the continued availability of noninvasive medication abortion. Originally approved in France in 1988 as a safe and effective option for women seeking to terminate their pregnancies, mifepristone induces abortion if taken within 49 days of pregnancy and has dramatically expanded women’s options for early abortion. Since mifepristone’s approval in the US in 2000, more than 575,000 women in the United States have successfully used Mifeprex, the brand name for mifepristone. Women around the world are overwhelmingly satisfied with medication abortion, with 97% of women reporting that they would recommend mifepristone to a friend seeking to terminate a pregnancy. Despite agreement in the medical community that mifepristone is a safe and effective drug, Mifeprex is under attack from anti-choice leaders that wish to limit reproductive options for families. Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) has stated his intentions to place a hold on the nomination of Andrew C. von Eschenbach as the next commissioner of the FDA unless mifepristone is pulled from the market. Crystal Plati, Executive Director of Choice USA issued the following statement about the anniversary: "Women need real options to make real choices. The availability of mifepristone is paramount to women whose schedules and responsibilities – like picking their children up from school, going to college, or working to support their families – don’t allow for spending a day in a doctor’s office for a surgical abortion." By providing women with options, women and families can make the best decisions for themselves. In order for women to have healthy lives, all of the options that are considered safe by the scientific and medical community must be and remain available." For more information about mifepristone, please visit www.choiceusa.org. # # #
Choice USA mobilizes and provides ongoing support to the diverse, upcoming generation of leaders who promote and protect reproductive choice both now and in the future. We are dedicated to the right of each person worldwide to decide when and if they will have sex, when and if they will be pregnant, and when and if they will have a child. In order to make those personal decisions, accurate information and safe, legal reproductive health services must be available to everyone.
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