By
Sheila Bapat
RU-486 is making men of cloth go crazy.
Rev. John Earl of Illinois heard about the FDA's approval of the new abortion drug. He then felt compelled to smash his car into a nearby abortion clinic Saturday morning and attack the building with an ax. Funny how such news gets everyone in a tizzy, when the drug really doesn't change things that much.
Other than getting activists on both sides riled up, RU-486 does nothing but provide another medically safe alternative for women who choose to have an abortion. Abortion has been a legal procedure since the Supreme Court passed Roe v. Wade nearly 30 years ago.
Earl smashed his car into the office of Dr. Richard Ragsdale, a doctor who overturned abortion laws of the 1980s that made it too hard for women to obtain abortions. He did it two days after the release of RU-486. He now faces charges on burglary and felony criminal damage to property.
Not only is the drug making priests go wild, but it could be a thorn in the side of any presidential candidate.
Now Gore and Bush have yet another hurdle within the ceaseless abortion debate. Conspiracy theorists might think officials at the FDA strategically waited until right around election time to release the drug, just to spice up the presidential debates and make their otherwise boring jobs a bit snazzier.
Politically, of course, RU-486 makes the hot-button issue of abortion even hotter. Buchanan, the Reform Party's boy wonder who last year was excommunicated from the Church of GOP, came out against the drug with surprising ease. "A human pesticide," he called it.
Sen. Tim Hutchison, R-Ark, said the drug could be dangerous, and could pose a health threat to the women who might use it. Perfect rhetoric for the pro-life side.
All we know is that RU-486 is a hot button political issue, but it's hard to say who gets the upper hand as a result. Given how sharply divided the pro-life-pro-choice debate is, it's unclear who will use it as a political football. Both Gore and Bush need to be careful about what they say about abortion because both are trying desperately right now not to piss off the other side.
So the ball is in play, but no one wants to touch it.
Except pro-choice activists, and maybe medical technology in general. Gloria Feldt, President of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, appeared Thursday on PBS's News Hour with Jim Lehrer and supported the drug.
"It is a giant step forward for women, a quantum leap in reproductive health technology and an option that many American women have wanted for many years," Feldt said.
The drug found itself in Europe and Asia before it finally garnered FDA approval. And it's fate in America is still not yet set in stone. Next month's elections could either promise RU-486 support or lead to its demise. It all depends on how many pro-choicers and pro-lifers take office.
And it all depends on who wins the White House seat. If Gore does, his Supreme Court appointments won't touch the drug. If Bush wins, the high court would find a way to inhibit it-which is what they would have done even if RU-486 had never existed.
But the debate is an endless one, and the advent of medical technologies only help it remain so. Hard-line activists keep us aware of how important the issue is.
Especially when they're priests who smash their cars into buildings.
Dozens of pro-lifers supported Rev. Earl at a rally Sunday. Fellow priests said they don't support his actions but "appreciate his heart."
Maybe if enough priests follow his lead, drive into more abortion clinics and chop them up with axes, the FDA will change it's mind and ban RU-486 for good.
Until, of course, the pro-choicers start smashing their cars into churches.
