Quote: Dr. Damon Stutes, a provider in Reno, Nev and said this regarding RU-486, "The complications associated with RU-486 far exceed the complications of surgical abortion."

According to the article, Stutes refuses to offer pill-based (RU-486) abortions and said he was uneasy about agreeing with abortion opponents on anything, be he has been the target of hatred. But, he told the Times, "the truth is the truth."

Quote: "Providers offering Mifeprex, should be aware that , as with other types of abortions, cases of serious bacterial infection, including very rare cases of fatal septic shock, have been reported following the use of Mifeprex." (RU-486)

Quote: "Whether we like it or not, this process does make it incredibly easy for patients to essentially use the abortion pill as a contraceptive. I know that this is true because I've seen it happen. One girl came in twice for the early medical abortion (EMA) in only four months.It sums up how I feel about early medical abortion, because for some people I would recommend it, and for others I wouldn't. I can't say if I'm for or against the [abortion] pill really, because for some patients it is exactly the right option; for others, I certainly doubt the wisdom of its use."

Quote:
1) "[Medical abortion] makes you feel like an internist, not a gynecologist...I guess a surgical abortion gives you a sense of satisfaction in that you did something that someone else couldn't do...with medical abortion, you feel a little bit less needed, because 'everybody' may end up doing them..."

2) "When I first heard about it [methotrexate], I decided not to do it, because it wasn't FDA-approved. But...friends of mine [other obstetrician-gynecologists] were calling, saying they were doing it, patients were starting to inquire...and then after the last NAF meeting, I saw a lot of other people were doing this...so I went back and immediately read the articles that had been published about it, and started doing it...."

3) Some doctors in private practice make a point of personally counseling all prospective medical abortion candidates. In clinics that have incorporated medical abortion provision, the counseling or nursing staff typically take on such duties. An abortion provider in the South, who personally counsels all medical abortion recipients himself, acknowledges that this counseling "takes twice as much of my time as talking to a surgical patient."

4) An obstetrician-gynecologist in the Northeast who recently started performing methotrexate abortions in a freestanding clinic candidly acknowledges that she is doing so out of "political commitment" rather than personal preference: "I think most physicians like myself...will find them harder to do, in the sense that I'm trained as a surgeon. I'm not trained to watch people miscarry. When people come in miscarrying to the hospital, I'm trained to evacuate the uterus...I think there's an underlying anxiety to [medical abortion] that is just not there when you do a [surgical] procedure and it's done in a few minutes..."

5)In contrast, a physician who provides methotrexate abortions in his private family medicine practice in the Southwest has the nurse inject the methotrexate: "I don't give the injections for anything else, immunizations on kids, anything like that. So why should I here? I don't feel I need to do that."

Quote: When the FDA decided against making Plan B available without a prescription, it wrote that proponents "did not demonstrate that Plan B could be used safely by young adolescent women for emergency contraception without the professional supervision of a licensed practitioner."

Quote: "I think it's an honest question, the experts had estimated that we would see a drop by up to half in the rates of unintended pregnancy and the rates of abortion. And in fact in the real world we're not seeing that, were not necessarily seeing an increase either. Again, where we see the increases, correlation does not equal causation."

Quote: Dr. Matt Wise distributes abortion pills over the internet. He made these comments in an article printed in a November 2005 issue of Salon.com

"I would happily walk away from this project -- I mean, I'm hanging on by a thread here," says Wise. "I've had state medical boards not happy with me, I've had pharmacists read me the riot act about how what I'm prescribing is wrong," he says. "The only thing keeping me in here is realizing that we're really making a difference -- at this point we've helped thousands of women. And it's part of a much bigger battle to get this stuff over-the-counter. We're not going to go anywhere until this medicine is widely available for patients."

Back in 2000, when Wise was a medical resident at the University of North Carolina Hospital in Chapel Hill. Wise told Salon that he was inspired to try to help meet that need by one of his mentors, contraceptive expert Dr. David Grimes. Grimes, he says, had always told him, "Hey, if there's something out there you can do to help women that is morally and medically appropriate, you ought to be doing it."

Wise told Salon he wanted to offer these internet pills to minor girls but he rethought his position. He states, "From a moral standpoint, I have no problem at all prescribing to younger patients," he says, noting that he does so -- along with plenty of counseling -- in his own practice. "But I realize that what we're doing already places us under increased scrutiny from medical boards, citizens and so forth, and we want to be cautious. So we made a difficult decision -- one not based on law, but just to make sure that we are able to continue the services that we provide -- that we're going to provide medical consults and prescribe EC only for legal adults." The article points out that Wise sends these girls to a Planned Parenthood or other available resource instead.

Wise ends the interview by telling Salon that he plans to expand the website, "When I started this project I was doing it as a doctor. I viewed it as a huge unmet need, and I found a creative way to solve that problem," he says. "But as time has gone on and I've realized the politics involved in getting Plan B over-the-counter, frankly, I've become more of an activist."

Quote: "So the early medical abortion (EMA) procedure affords better confidentiality in one sense. My concern is that, in the medical sense, a patient at home might not know what to do if anything went wrong."

Quote: "If a patient is sent out the door with their pills, then there might not be any follow-up. It has been known for patients to go back and have to ask for counselling afterwards. And of course it will not occur to some people to do that, and it can be very damaging psychologically. It's a horrible thing to go through."

Quote: "The main problem with doing it at home is that the patient has to see the product which is passed. This is obviously pretty nasty if you have to do it yourself."

Quote: "There is a sceptical part of me that thinks that the early medical abortion (EMA) is just a way for the NHS to save money."

Quote: "RU-486 is painful. Women have a great deal of pain and nausea and many visits to the clinic."

Quote: "None of these women should be dying; it's shocking," said Dr. Peter Bours, an abortion provider in Portland, Ore., who is the New York Times said rethinking whether to offer pill-based, or medical, abortions.

Quote: "One needs to tell patients that the medical procedure, even though it seems more natural, may be more likely to result in death," said Dr. Phillip G. Stubblefield, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Boston University.

In the article printed by the New York Times, Stubblefield speculated that women who had inserted misoprostol vaginally might have accidentally dragged the pill across the skin near the anus, inserting bacteria that then flourished. But Dr. Mitchell Creinin, director of the division of gynecologic specialties at the University of Pittsburgh, said the method of drug administration had nothing to do with the deaths. Miscarriages, both induced and natural, can lead to infections, he said.

Quote: Dr. Rebekah E. Gee filed a lawsuit against Wal-Mart to force them to stock Plan B, she said, "The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) defines pregnancy as beginning at implantation, as does the U.S. government.4 Some who take issue with Plan B believe that life begins at fertilization and that any interference with implantation therefore constitutes an abortion — or is, at least, equally reprehensible."

Quote: At the Little Rock Family Planning abortion clinic,the NY Times reported that few patients chose the pills over surgery. ''With medical termination, the discomfort is significant because they have to go through mini-labor,'' Dr. Tvedten said. ''There's a lot of hard cramps and usually significant bleeding. It's cheaper, safer and less painful to have a surgical termination.''

Quote: In a New Times article asking abortion providers which method of abortion they prefer: surgical or pill based, Dr. Vanessa Cullins, vice president for medical affairs at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, the nation's largest abortion provider, said, "Both surgical and medication abortion are extremely safe and effective procedures." The two kinds of abortion "have comparable risks with the exception of what we have recently seen as it relates to septic fatalities," Dr. Cullins said.

Quote: According to the New York Times, Dr. Warren Hern, a provider in Denver, said the latest reports on RU-486 demonstrated that abortions by RU-486, or Mifeprex, were far riskier than surgical ones. "I think surgery should be the procedure of choice," Dr. Hern said. Pills, he said, "are a lousy way to perform an abortion."

Quote: Abortionist William Moss is who practices in Tustin said that instead of suction and surgery, he uses a cancer-fighting drug that attacks fast-growing cells to end pregnancy.

The Times-Picayune points out that only a few doctors in the United States are using this approach, because the federal government has not sanctioned it. That makes some people uncomfortable, and raises thorny medical and ethical issues.

But Moss told the paper, "It's like a miscarriage, it just melts away. There's none of the risk that comes with surgery - anesthesia, perforation of the uterus, crossing picket lines."

The article states that many feminist organizations oppose women being used as guinea pigs. The quote Tammy Bruce, president of the National Organization for Women's Los Angeles chapter, who told the paper that , "Obviously, we want women to avoid a surgical procedure, and clearly, the more options for women the better. But without FDA approval, we think it's entirely inappropriate. There are no long-term studies to determine the effects on a woman's body. We can't be living guinea pigs for doctors."

But the FDA said doctors are free to prescribe approved drugs - like methotrexate and misoprostol - for any use they see fit."It's a reasonable and rational and logical part of the practice of medicine. It's very common," said Mike Shaffer, FDA spokesman.

While some support Moss' methods, Candis Cohen, state board spokeswoman for the California Medical Board isn't entirely sure, "If methotrexate has not been judged by the FDA to be safe and effective for therapeutic abortions, then Dr. Moss's use may be unlawful."