Canadian newspapers reported recently that next year the first “foolproof” birth control drug will be distributed in Europe. “First foolproof post pregnancy birth control pill” read the Ottawa Citizen caption. (Dec. 5). “Foolproof pill ready next year,” said the Toronto Sun. The Winnipeg Free Press, however, headed its short news item more accurately: “Abortion pill safe, labs say.” (Dec. 4).
The new pill invented by Dr. Etienne Beaulieu of Paris is an abortion-causing pill. “Its main target,” he said, “is the one billion women in Third World nations who should be using birth control.”
The pill prevents the embryo from implanting in the womb and eventually expels it. It is “easy, self administered” and of course, so its inventor claims, “without side effects.” The pill was developed by Inserm, a national medical research institute, and paid for by Roussel Uclaf, a French drug company, hence “RU-486.”
The late Indian Prime Minister, Indira Ghandi, had asked Beaulieu to distribute the pill in her country. In 1976 she tried unsuccessfully to enforce compulsory sterilization. Now, however, this latest pill will be distributed not only to women in India but also China as part of its clinical trials.
A.H.
