McCosh infirmary officials decide not to offer abortion pill

In September, when the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved for sale mifepristone — also known as the abortion pill or RU-486 — officials at McCosh infirmary were not sure whether they would make the drug available to students.

But after months of investigation into the drug's effects, McCosh has decided not to offer RU-486, Director of University Health Services Dr. Pamela Bowen said yesterday.

Bowen said she does not believe McCosh has the capability to administer the drug safely. She explained that RU-486 is more difficult to administer than the "morning-after pill," which is available at the health center.

Rather than preventing pregnancy within the first 12 hours after intercourse, as the morning-after pill does, RU-486 terminates an existing pregnancy within its first trimester.

"It's really a surgical procedure done medically," Bowen said. "We don't want people to say, 'I might be pregnant, so I should take this pill.' "

According to Bowen, for RU-486 to be administered, the pregnancy must first be detected by an ultrasound. An ultrasound is also required to confirm the drug successfully terminated the pregnancy, she said.

"We don't have the necessary qualifications," Bowen said. "You have to have an ultrasound and we don't offer the procedure."

To read the ultrasound films, McCosh would need a radiologist, a position that does not exist on the infirmary staff.

Bowen said hiring a radiologist and investing in an ultrasound system is not a logical step for McCosh, because "we don't have a great demand for pregnancy termination as it is."

Of the 55 reported pregnancies on campus last year — among University undergraduates, graduate students and their dependents — 41 were desired pregnancies, and 14 were referred for pregnancy termination, Bowen said.

"We will certainly refer individuals into the community once the medication is available," Bowen said, pointing out that the drug is not yet available in New Jersey.

Scott Driesse '03, president of Princeton Pro-Life, said McCosh officials made the right decision.

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"This decision was made in the best interests of Princeton women," he said. "The push by various groups to make RU-486 widely available is largely political and does not take into consideration both the legal and health liabilities that the use of RU-486 creates."

Princeton Pro-Choice president Vanessa Bartram '02 said she hoped the University's decision was "based on the interests of the health and safety of students and not based on University politics."

Bartram said because FDA restrictions specify that doctors or institutions that prescribe RU-486 must be capable of performing a surgical abortion if the drug fails, "access to mifepristone is not going to change abortion access as it ideally would."

Dr. Evelyn Wiener, director of Student Health Service at the University of Pennsylvania, said her organization will not offer RU-486 because, as a facility that does not offer surgical abortions, it is prohibited from administering the drug under Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Bureau of Health regulations.

She said all abortions are referred to the University of Pennsylvania Medical Center, a full-size hospital. She added, however, that her organization does offer the morning-after pill.

Harvard University spokesman Joe Wrinn said the university offers neither RU-486 nor the morning-after pill. It refers all abortion requests, whether for surgery or RU-486, as well as requests for the morning-after pill, to the Beth Israel Hospital in Boston.

'Prince' Senior Writer Jennifer Maloney contributed to this report.