Washington - A controversial drug that can end pregnancy without surgery faces a crucial deadline this week as US health officials decide whether to permit the sale of the abortion pill best known as RU-486.
Regulators must decide by Saturday whether to approve, reject or ask for more information about the pill, according to abortion rights groups and the drug's distributor. Supporters have been trying to bring the pill, also known as mifepristone, to the US market for a decade. The drug made its debut in France in 1988 and now is sold in Europe, China and elsewhere.