Its proponents had hailed the pill as a way for women to get more-private abortions from their own doctor.
But the survey by the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation shows RU-486 isn´t popular with private gynecologists. Even among gynecologists who do surgical abortions, 12% reported having provided the abortion drug, Kaiser reported today.
Forty percent of the 595 gynecologists surveyed said they didn´t offer the abortion pill, also called mifepristone or Mifeprex, because they personally oppose abortion.
Of those who don´t offer Mifeprex for other reasons, 62% said their patients simply hadn´t asked for it, and half also cited concerns about protests or violence from opponents of the drug.
The gynecologists´ survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percentage points; the women´s survey has a margin of error of 3.
