While this ideological battle is going on there is another whole group of people whose lives and health could potentially be greatly improved by access to this banned pharmaceutical. Mifepristone can help to induce labour and treat medical conditions such as infertility, endometriosis and certain types of tumours.
Numerous clinical studies and international research shows mifepristone is a promising and viable treatment option for meningioma, some breast cancers, fibroid tumours and uterine and ovarian cancers.
Researchers have also suggested that mifepristone might be useful in treating psychotic depression, HIV, Cushing’s disease and glaucoma.
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Physicians can apply to the Minister for Health and Ageing for an exemption to the ban, and arrange the importation themselves if the minister agrees. But this process takes a very long time - time that people in these circumstances often cannot afford.
And of course research into other beneficial uses of mifepristone is inhibited by the lack of access to the drug in Australia.
The recent urging of all the reproductive health medical bodies for this restriction to be lifted has given us hope that the government might have a more open mind on the question. It was encouraging that Parliamentary Secretary Chris Pyne, who is responsible for the Therapeutic Goods Administration, said applications for exemption from the restriction would be considered on their merits.
Doctors, including Professor Caroline de Costa who sparked the debate with her recent article in the Medical Journal of Australia, and family planning groups are now busy preparing applications and hoping to set a precedent that will open the way for a sponsoring body or pharmaceutical company to import the product into Australia.
Mifepristone is safe, has been thoroughly tested, has a long history of successful use and shows potential for other applications. Adhering to a decision a decade ago which was made essentially on religious grounds is certainly no longer tenable.
With the government needing every Coalition vote to get its controversial IR and anti-terror laws passed, let’s hope that political expediency and trade-off do not compromise women’s health.
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