The French scientist who created the abortion pill has died at the age of 98.
Étienne-Émile Baulieu helped develop the oral drug RU-486, also known as mifepristone, which has provided millions of women across the world with a safe and inexpensive alternative to a surgical abortion.
Dr Baulieu died at his home in Paris on Friday, his widow confirmed in a statement.
Simone Harari Baulieu said: “His research was guided by his commitment to progress through science, his dedication to women’s freedom and his desire to enable everyone to live better and longer lives.”
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French President Emmanuel Macron called Dr Baulieu “a beacon of courage” and “a progressive mind who enabled women to win their freedom”.
“Few French people have changed the world to such an extent,” he added in a post on X.
Aurore Bergé, France’s gender equality minister, said Dr Baulieu “was guided throughout his life by one requirement: that of human dignity” in a post on X.
Dr Baulieu was born Étienne Blum on 12 December 1926 in Strasbourg. He changed his name to join the French resistance against the Nazi occupation when he was 15.
Following his graduation, he travelled to the United States where he worked with the man known as the father of the contraceptive pill, Dr Gregory Pincus. Dr Pincus advised him on focusing on sex hormones.
Back in France, Dr Baulieu designed a method to block the effect of the hormone progesterone – which is essential for the egg to implant in the uterus following fertilisation.
While the abortion pill was developed within 10 years, Dr Baulieu spent decades pushing international governments to authorise the drug despite facing fierce criticism and sometimes threats from opponents of abortion.
The approval for sale of the pill in 1988 sparked backlash, both in Europe and the United States, where to this day it remains a point of contention between pro-choice and anti-abortion campaigners.
While use of the drug has been approved in over 100 countries globally, access to mifepristone is still heavily regulated or restricted in the US and several other countries.
In recent years, some anti-abortion campaigners have also promoted claims that abortion medication – cast as “chemical abortion” – ineffective and dangerous, despite medical authorities consistently saying it is safe for use.
Since its approval in 2000, the US Food and Drug Administration has reported a total of 36 deaths associated with mifepristone – a rate of about 0.65 deaths per 100,000 medication abortions.
For comparison, the death rate associated with habitual aspirin use is about 15.3 deaths per 100,000 aspirin users.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) added mifepristone to its list of essential medication in 2010.
Upon Wyoming becoming the first US state to ban the abortion pill in 2023, Dr Baulieu noted he had spent a large part of his life trying to increase “the freedom of women”, adding such bans were a step in the wrong direction.
His recent research included trying to find a way to prevent the development of Alzheimer’s disease, as well as a treatment for severe depression.
French President Macron presented Dr Baulieu with the Grand Cross of the Legion d’Honneur in 2023 saying: “You, a Jew and a member of the resistance, were heaped with the most atrocious insults and compared to Nazi scientists.
“But you held firm, out of love for freedom and science.”
