"Howzat?".(use of Danco Laboratories RU486 pill)

It was such stark contrast that even the media reporter for the Washington Post couldn't help but notice. Under a subheading reading "Howzat?" Howard Kurtz simply printed two headlines:

"Abortion Pill Slow to Win Users Among Women and Their Doctors" -- New York Times

"Abortion Pill Sales Rising, Firm Says" -- Washington Post

Kurtz's amusing reference was to the contradictory headlines for articles appearing in the September 25, 2002, editions of the New York Times and the Washington Post, respectively. Both deal with a press release put out the day before by Danco Laboratories, the U.S. distributor of RU486, the abortion pill.

In his short article, Post reporter Marc Kaufman largely reproduces highlights from the Danco press release--increases in U.S. sales and a rise in sales to doctors in private practice, for instance.

In addition, the Post article devotes only a few sentences to the serious complications, including two deaths, about which the company reported earlier this year. Kaufman quotes a company spokesperson who reasserts the drug's safety and efficacy and who dutifully notes that the company sent out a letter notifying doctors of the adverse events, all the while maintaining that no causal link had been established between the drug and the deaths.

The reporter closes by repeating the Danco press release's declaration that the drug has been approved for use in 26 countries and has now been used by 1 million women worldwide.