Study finds possible alternative abortion pill

What happened

Researchers reported Thursday that a 60 milligram dose of ulipristal acetate, the active ingredient in the prescription emergency contraceptive Ella, appeared to be as safe and effective at ending a pregnancy as the abortion medication mifepristone.

The study, involving 133 women in the first nine weeks of pregnancy, was published in the journal NEJM Evidence.

Who said what

Dr. Beverly Winikoff, president of Gynuity Health Projects and lead author of the study, said abortion bans and efforts to bar mifepristone started her searching for more options. With the ulipristal and a later dose of misoprostol, "at least now we would have an alternative," she told The Associated Press.

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Mifepristone, "now used in two-thirds of U.S. abortions," has been "under attack by abortion opponents" since Roe v. Wade was struck down, the AP said, and the new study "may make emergency contraception a target" as well. Drugmaker Perrigo said the prescribed 30 mg dose of Ella prevents but cannot end pregnancies. The "much more widely used morning-after pill" Plan B "contains a different drug and does not work in a way that would terminate a pregnancy, according to scientific evidence," The New York Times said.

What next?

The "political implications of the study are complex," the Times said. Evidence that a "morning-after pill ingredient can be used for abortion," as abortion opponents have long said, could "sow confusion" and "bolster the larger anti-abortion strategy," but banning contraception is deeply unpopular across the board.