Beyond the 'abortion pill': Real-life experiences of individuals taking mifepristone

For a while, it was known as RU-486. It's called Mifeprex or mifepristone – but many know it as "the abortion pill." It is one of two drugs – along with misoprostol – that are used in more than half of abortions in the U.S. now. And it is the subject of a federal court case that could make it illegal.

As attorneys gather in New Orleans this week at the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals to argue whether this medication should be removed from the market all over the country, NPR asked people to share their experiences with using mifepristone. More than 150 people responded.

The stories illustrate how mifepristone is indeed an "abortion pill" — but it also plays other important roles in people's lives.

Many people wrote about how they took the medicine in treatment of a miscarriage. Others used it as part of their fertility journeys. Physically, taking mifepristone and misoprostol was a seriously painful experience for some and caused few symptoms for others. Some said they had never been more sure of any decision, others wrote that they still weren't sure if they made the right call.

Here are some of the ways people who wrote to NPR used mifepristone.

A treatment for recurrent miscarriages

"I knew – going into trying to have children – that there might be something different about me," says Larissa Adams. Family members alluded to the fact that getting pregnant was hard for women in the family. For instance: "My grandmother got married at 19, but didn't have her first kid until she