France Tells Drug Firm to Resume Abortion Pill Sales : Acts Over Objections of Church

PARIS —  Health Minister Claude Evin ordered a French drug company to resume supplying the controversial abortion pill RU-486 today, two days after the company halted distribution, citing boycott threats from right-to-life groups.

Roussel Uclaf said it will resume distributing the pill to certified hospitals and abortion clinics, which began using it on a trial basis in September with the Health Ministry’s approval.

“The interests of public health are threatened,” Evin said of the decision to stop supplying RU-486--the only abortion pill approved for distribution anywhere. “I decided as health minister, in charge of public health in this country, to assume my responsibilities.”

The company halted distribution of the drug Wednesday, citing pressure from right-to-life groups in France and abroad--particularly the United States--that included threats to boycott all of its products.

Wide Range of Products

An affiliate of the West German pharmaceutical company Hoechst, Roussel Uclaf markets a wide range of products for humans and animals, including antibiotics and heart medications.

Evin recalled that abortion has been legal in predominantly Roman Catholic France since 1975. “The law must be applied,” he said. “RU-486 constitutes progress because it allows (women) to avoid an operation under anesthesia.”

Evin met with Roussel Uclaf Vice President Pierre Joly today to communicate the government’s decision.

He said Joly told him that “moral and personal pressure (had been) exerted on company executives and their families.”

“The accounts I received show there were very heavy pressures, which are scandalous,” Evin said.

His decision was hailed by pro-choice groups in France and abroad.

The French Movement for Family Planning, which had denounced the removal of the pill as a return to the Middle Ages, said it hopes the decision will “be a real obstacle to expressions of intolerance by a few fanatics who want to impose their morality.”

Planned Parenthood Reacts

In New York, Faye Wattleton, president of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, said, “We’re delighted that the French government has stepped up to its moral obligation.”

U.S. family planning experts hope the availability of the drug in France will help eventually to get the drug approved in the United States. No drug companies, however, have yet expressed interest in marketing the drug in the United States.

In Lourdes, Msgr. Albert Decourtray, president of the French Bishops Conference, said he regrets the government’s decision. “This is a victory for savage liberalism,” he said.

And Judie Brown, president of the anti-abortion American Life League Inc., said she was “not surprised” by the French government’s action. “We originally thought the whole thing was a public relations gimmick.”

Among Anti-Progesterones

RU-486 is one of a group of drugs known as anti-progesterones that are being tested as possible abortion pills. Tested more extensively than the others, it is the only one approved for distribution.

The pill brings on abortion in 95.5% of pregnant women who take it along with the drug prostaglandin in the early weeks of pregnancy, the company said. The drug blocks the hormone progesterone, which is needed to maintain a pregnancy in the womb. Although a small percentage of women who take the drug experience nausea and heavy bleeding, studies indicate it is safe, experts say.

Roussel Uclaf has been testing RU-486 in more than 100 government-certified abortion clinics in France as an alternative to the conventional vacuum method.

The company also distributes the drug to hospitals in China, where it has been approved for marketing.