Here Comes RU 486

STEP BY STEP, THE FRENCH ABORTION PILL RU 486 has been inching its way toward approval for use in the U.S. Under President Clinton, who supports abortion rights, the Food and Drug Administration first dropped its opposition to the French-developed pill. Now comes another step. After years of refusing even to seek American permission to market its product out of fear of becoming enmeshed in the abortion controversy, manufacturer Roussel Uclaf has agreed to license the pill to the Population Council, based in New York City.

Under the agreement, the nonprofit family-planning group is charged with the daunting task of finding a company willing to make the pill, as well as with setting up clinical tests in 2,000 American women, though 120,000 women have already received RU 486 from clinics in France, Britain and Sweden. Approval for marketing is years away.