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AN EXPERIMENTAL once-a-month contraceptive pill for women blocks the action
of progesterone, a hormone that prepares the womb for pregnancy. It is based on
mifepristone, a drug licensed as an abortion pill in Europe and China. When
taken around the time of ovulation it stops the fertilised egg from implanting
in the womb. Anna Glasier and her team at the University of Edinburgh gave
mifepristone once a month to 32 women, and found it was 95 per cent effective at
preventing pregnancy (Human Reproduction, vol 16, p 1145). But the women had to
test their urine up to 10 days each month to work out the right day to take the
pill.