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Minister halts Italy's first abortion pill trial

Posted on: Thursday, 22 September 2005, 10:33 CDT

By Shasta Darlington

ROME (Reuters) - Italy's health minister has halted the country's first experiment with the abortion pill RU-486, prompting accusations that the decision was politically motivated and not scientific.

Two weeks after a hospital in the northern Italian city of Turin began administering RU-486 to volunteer patients, Health Minister Francesco Storace suspended the experiment on Wednesday, citing health and legal reasons.

Doctors accused Storace of interference while politicians from both the left and the right said the minister, who hails from the conservative National Alliance party, was trying to chip away at a 1978 law that legalized abortion.

"In the end, (the abortion law) is the target," said Margherita Boniver, a top Foreign Ministry official and one of the leading pro-choice advocates in Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right coalition.

"The current government doesn't have enough time to change the law but they are going to keep putting it to the test with restrictions," she told Corriere della Sera newspaper.

Storace said the experiment was suspended after inspectors reported one of the 20 women who have taken the pill ended up having a "partial expulsion" at home followed by bleeding.

The minister said the incident suggested the procedure was illegal since under Italian law abortions must be carried out at hospitals. He also said there could be health risks.

Hospital officials and the Italian gynecological association said the research project, which had been approved by the ministry, was proceeding normally and did not pose any risk to the women involved.

Critics said Storace's decision was proof of the Roman Catholic Church's influence on Italian politics.

The Church holds considerable sway in Italy and recently scored a victory against lawmakers attempting to dismantle the country's strict law on assisted fertility.

At that time, several government leaders, including Storace, said it might be possible to review the abortion law given the change in public opinion, but most analysts say it would be political suicide ahead of general elections next year.

RU-486, also known as Mifeprex or mifepristone, is used for terminating a pregnancy of up to 49 days. It has been used in a number of countries since it was developed in France in the 1980s.

The pill's maker, Danco Laboratories LLC, announced in July that five women who had taken RU-486 had died from bacterial infections since its introduction in America five years ago.

As a result, conservative U.S. lawmakers have called for Congress to halt sales of the pill and for safety reviews.

Source: REUTERS

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