New research suggests that the pill used for emergency contraception could be repurposed at higher doses as an abortion drug, providing a possible alternative mifepristoneone of two drugs used in The most common type of abortion in the United States.
Mifepristone has come under attack from anti-abortionistshowever, several states are trying in federal court to restrict its use.
Mifepristone is currently used in two-thirds of abortions in the United States. It blocks a hormone needed to maintain pregnancy. It is usually used with misoprostol, which causes contractions and bleeding.
In the study, 133 women up to nine weeks pregnant took a 60-milligram dose of ulipristal acetate, the active ingredient in the prescription birth control Ella, followed 24 hours later by misoprostol.
For 97% of them, this combination of drugs was effective in inducing an abortion, equal in effectiveness to the combination of mifepristone and misoprostol. Four women required a procedure or additional medication to complete their abortion.
The 60-milligram dose of ulipristal used in the study is twice the dose of Ella, a prescription drug used for emergency contraception.
The company that makes Ella states on its website that it will not terminate an existing pregnancy. It can be taken for five days after unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy.
The findings, published Thursday in the journal NEJM Evidence, could make emergency contraception a target of abortion opponents.
“I'm really concerned that these findings could be misused by anti-abortion activists to further their attack on contraception,” said Dr. Daniel Grossman of the University of California, San Francisco, who wrote an accompanying editorial in the journal. Grossman praised the study but said more research on ulipristal as an abortion drug is needed before doctors routinely prescribe it for such use.
Lead author Dr. Beverly Winikoff, president of the nonprofit research group Gynuity Health Projects, said women need information about ulipristal, especially as mifepristone is being challenged in court.
“At least now we'll have an alternative,” Winikoff said. “I think it’s better to have more things to use.”
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