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The FDA's rules are actually less restrictive than many of those found in Europe. In Britain the pills are available only in licensed abortion facilities--usually clinics and National Health Service hospitals--and must be taken on the premises. Similar regulations exist in France, which requires four visits over a period of three weeks to a licensed hospital or clinic. Dr. Elizabeth Aubeny, one of the first physicians to test mifepristone, at the Broussais Hospital in Paris, contends there should be more flexibility in allowing women to take misoprostol at home, if they choose. Still, she admits, "there are a lot of women who prefer to stay in the hospital for three hours. They are afraid to be alone, afraid of the bleeding. For many it's psychological; they feel more reassured in a hospital than they do at home." Women who opt for the abortion pill must make up their minds very quickly. Since conception occurs about 14 days after a menstrual cycle begins, they actually have 35 days from the time they miss their period to suspect they are pregnant, decide to abort and set up the appointments. (Home-pregnancy tests will help.) But once they do, many women find the process oddly comforting. Although they expel the fetus, all they see is a bloody mass that's unrecognizable. The nausea passes soon after the expulsion is over, and they can go on with their lives.
--Reported by Helen Gibson/London, Tala Skari/Paris and Dick Thompson/Washington