There are two different ways to have a medication abortion and end a pregnancy: using two different medicines, mifepristone (pictured) and misoprostol, or using only misoprostol. Studies have shown that mifepristone can can significantly reduce the size of uterine fibroids. (Anna Moneymaker / Getty Images) |
BY CARRIE N. BAKER | Mifepristone has long been politicized by abortion opponents—who have tried to block FDA approval of the medication in the 1990s and are still suing to remove it from the market, despite extensive evidence showing that medication abortion is very safe. But beyond the drug’s uses as an abortion pill, its effectiveness as a treatment for fibroids is going largely unknown and undiscussed. For patients with fibroids, mifepristone could ease pain and reduce the need for invasive surgery. But restrictions placed on mifepristone in response to anti-abortion threats have made mifepristone unavailable for treating fibroids.
Millions of U.S. women are debilitated each year by fibroids, which are noncancerous growths of the uterus that can cause heavy periods, severe pain and difficulty conceiving. Over 26 million women in the U.S. have fibroids, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health. By the age of 50, up to 70 percent of white women and 80 percent of Black women have fibroids. Fibroids are often treated with invasive surgery to remove the fibroids or with hysterectomies. Extensive research has shown that mifepristone can significantly reduce fibroids. Yet, it is not available for that use in the United States.
Between 2003 and 2011, Dr. Steven Eisinger, a board-certified ob-gyn and professor at the University of Rochester, along with his colleagues, published six peer-reviewed articles showing mifepristone was effective for treating fibroids.
Eisinger described what he observed when giving mifepristone to women with fibroids.
“Right away, it was obvious: It was a great success. The fibroids shrunk. The bleeding stopped. Patients’ quality of life improved dramatically. They felt better, had more energy, more color in their cheeks. They would go about life with a lot more enthusiasm. The scores on quality of life were so dramatically different that we actually considered the possibility that mifepristone was a mood enhancer.” (Click here to read more) |
