There are sooooo many posts on this topic and it's amazing to see African American women discussing this topic. I would like to thank those who are explaining the exact molecular mechanisms that underlie the properties of RU 486. I myself am a Ph.D. molecular genetics scientist doing cholesterol research. I am planning to switch my research into diabetes, arthritis or some other interesting molecular phenomena.
What interests me about this drug is that like someone said previously, is blocks the ability for the umbilical cord to form completely, so implantation doesn't properly occur and signals to the pituitary and other organs regulating the menstural cycle that the pregnancy has gone arwy and so the woman miscarries or spontaneously aborts the embryo/ fetus.
At the molecular genetic level of conception, many researchers are very fuzzy on the entire topic. At best, they have determined how the sperm penetrates the egg. Okay since I teach the non majors bio course at my university, it goes like this: How does a half of a cell "break-into" another half cell ? I call these half cells because they only have half the genetic information required for a living cell. So why does cloning work? That's a totally different topic and unrelated to the RU 486 affects.
As far as the political implications go, RU 486 regulates progesterone affects on cholesterol metabolism. I t can also be used as a very potent cholesterol regulator drug. Maybe the men that approved this drug are trying to save themselves from their athersclerotic heart disease...
And as a Pan Afrikanist I do have to ask, how are women of Afrikan descent really affected by this drug? As far as I can see, I do see way too many black kids or kids of color running around . The population of white births are rather low compared to that of children of color... Think about it--is this the wave of eugenics and population control???
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