{"id":54349,"date":"2025-06-01T09:39:51","date_gmt":"2025-06-01T09:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/scientist-who-invented-abortion-pill-dies-aged-98\/"},"modified":"2025-06-01T09:30:53","modified_gmt":"2025-06-01T09:30:53","slug":"scientist-who-invented-abortion-pill-dies-aged-98","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/scientist-who-invented-abortion-pill-dies-aged-98\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientist who invented abortion pill dies aged 98"},"content":{"rendered":"

Widely regarded as the father of the medical abortion pill, Baulieu revolutionised reproductive healthcare with the development of mifepristone (also known as RU-486), offering millions of women around the world a safe, non-surgical option to end a pregnancy.<\/p>\n

“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, longer lives,” said his widow, television producer Simone Harari Baulieu, in a statement on Friday, May 30.<\/p>\n

Baulieu is survived by three children, eight grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren.<\/p>\n

French President Emmanuel Macron hailed him as \u201ca beacon of courage\u201d and \u201ca progressive mind who enabled women to win their freedom,\u201d adding, \u201cFew French people have changed the world to such an extent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born \u00c9tienne Blum in Strasbourg on 12 December 1926 to Jewish parents, Baulieu joined the French Resistance as a teenager during the Nazi occupation. He later adopted the name \u00c9mile Baulieu, adding \u00c9tienne back after the war. <\/p>\n

Raised by a feminist mother following the early death of his father, he would go on to devote his life to scientific discovery and women’s rights.<\/p>\n

After studying medicine and working in the United States, Baulieu was mentored by Gregory Pincus, the American biologist known as the father of the contraceptive pill. Under Pincus\u2019s guidance, Baulieu began focusing on the biology of sex hormones, a path that would define his career.<\/p>\n

His breakthrough came in 1982 when he developed a method to block the hormone progesterone, which is vital for a fertilised egg to implant in the uterus. This discovery led to the creation of mifepristone, which would become a cornerstone of medical abortion. <\/p>\n

The drug was approved for use in France in 1988 and has since been authorised in over 100 countries.<\/p>\n

However, Baulieu\u2019s groundbreaking work was not without controversy. He faced threats, legal battles, and fierce opposition from anti-abortion groups, particularly in the United States. <\/p>\n

In 2023, following Wyoming\u2019s decision to become the first US state to ban the abortion pill, Baulieu described the move as \u201cscandalous,\u201d reiterating that he had spent much of his life fighting to \u201cincrease the freedom of women.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite the resistance, mifepristone has been recognised by the World Health Organisation as an essential medicine since 2010. While critics continue to question its safety, scientific studies show it has a lower fatality rate than many common over-the-counter medications, such as aspirin.<\/p>\n

Beyond reproductive health, Baulieu\u2019s research extended into ageing, depression, and neurodegenerative conditions. Even into his mid-90s, he continued working from his office in Paris, with ongoing projects that explored treatments for Alzheimer\u2019s disease and severe depression.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would be bored if I did not work anymore,\u201d he once said.<\/p>\n

In 2023, President Macron awarded Baulieu the Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour, France\u2019s highest national distinction. <\/p>\n

At the ceremony, Macron praised his resilience in the face of vilification: \u201cYou, 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Baulieu\u2019s passion for life extended beyond the laboratory. A literature enthusiast, he befriended artists like Andy Warhol in the 1960s and expressed admiration for those who \u201cclaim to have access to the human soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Widely<\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00c9tienne-\u00c9mile Baulieu, the pioneering French scientist behind the abortion pill, has died at the age of 98 at his home in Paris, his wife has confirmed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":2000088398,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[75],"byline":[192],"hashtag":[],"class_list":["post-54349","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-homenews","byline-wycliffe-nyamasege"],"bylines":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"contributors":[{"id":192,"name":"Wycliffe Nyamasege","slug":"wycliffe-nyamasege","description":"","image":{"id":0,"url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/?s=96&d=mm&f=y&r=g","alt":"Default avatar","title":"Default avatar","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","sizes":[]},"user_id":131}],"featured_image":{"id":2000088398,"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/af396d90-3d80-11f0-bace-e1270fc31f5e.jpg.jpg","alt":"","caption":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","width":0,"height":0,"sizes":{"thumbnail":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/af396d90-3d80-11f0-bace-e1270fc31f5e.jpg.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/af396d90-3d80-11f0-bace-e1270fc31f5e.jpg.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"medium_large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/af396d90-3d80-11f0-bace-e1270fc31f5e.jpg.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"large":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/af396d90-3d80-11f0-bace-e1270fc31f5e.jpg.jpg","width":1,"height":1},"full":{"url":"https:\/\/en-images.igihe.com\/IMG\/logo\/af396d90-3d80-11f0-bace-e1270fc31f5e.jpg.jpg","width":0,"height":0}}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=54349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/54349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2000088398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=54349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=54349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=54349"},{"taxonomy":"byline","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/byline?post=54349"},{"taxonomy":"hashtag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/new.igihe.com\/english\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/hashtag?post=54349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}