Mifepristone in the Context of American Abortion History

Datos Bibliográficos

ID11367461
AutoresJanet Farrell Brodie (Claremont Graduate University, autor de correspondencia)
Año2002
Volumen24
Número3
Páginas101-119
Fecha de publicación2002-06-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaWomen & Politics (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0195-7732 • E-ISSN: 1540-9473
EditorialInforma UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1300/j014v24n03_06
OpenAlexW2058159048
IdiomaEN
Referencias citadas23

The FDA's approval of the drug known as mifepristone, or RU 486, brought the thirty-year-old abortion controversy in the U.S. to a new pitch. Available in France since 1988, it took American proponents another twelve years to secure governmental permission for the socalled “abortion pill.” To better understand some of the implications of the legalization of an earlypregnancy abortifacient, this article examines pertinent aspects of the history of abortion in the U.S. The first section of the paper draws on a large body of historical literature to review what we know about abortion in the American past, especially who had abortions, the methods most commonly used, and the repeated attempts to repressaortion. The second part of the article considers aspects of RU 486 in light of this U.S. history

Abortifacient · Abortion · Context (archaeology · Legalization · Mifepristone · Pill · Political science · Pregnancy · American Constitutional Law and Politics · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · History · Law · Medicine · Reproductive Health and Contraception