Edition: U.S. / Global   Published: September 29, 2000  The Food
and Drug Administration announced yesterday that it had approved
the marketing of an abortion-inducing pill, the first
alternative to surgical abortion approved in the United States.
The pill, a prescription drug, will be available to doctors in
about four weeks, its distributor said.  The drug, mifepristone,
or RU-486, will allow doctors like family practitioners and
obstetricians to offer abortions outside of specialty clinics,
and it will allow women to have abortions in the privacy of
their homes up to seven weeks after their last menstrual period.
Although most women who seek abortions do not do so until later
in their pregnancies, the drug has taken on immense symbolic
importance for both supporters and opponents of abortion rights.
Many supporters of abortion rights have said its approval will
transform the struggle over legal abortion, making the procedure
more accessible and more private, and stall efforts by opponents
of abortion to