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Three years ago, RU-486 – or simply “the abortion pill” – was approved for use in the United States by the Food and Drug Administration despite much controversy and debate over its safety.

Now, the recent death of an 18-year-old woman from the San Francisco Bay area has again raised questions about the drug.

Holly Patterson visited a Planned Parenthood clinic in Hayward, Calif., where she was administered the pill. Two days later, she took a second set of pills at home, as prescribed by the clinician.

Patterson experienced severe cramps and bleeding, and was rushed to the hospital by her boyfriend. She was given pain killers and sent home.

A few days later, Patterson returned to the hospital and died from septic shock caused by fragments of the fetus left inside her uterus.

Whether or not her death was caused by the pills cannot be determined until an autopsy is completed.

According to Danco Laboratories, the drug’s manufacturer, RU-486 – which is sold in the United States under the name Mifeprex – has been used over 200,000 times since it was first approved.

Worldwide, the pill has been used by over a million women.

Two women died after taking the pill in the United States, though the FDA is unclear on whether their deaths were caused by the pill.

Neither Mifeprex nor any other type of abortion procedure are available at the Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center.

“We aren’t geared to do things like that,” said Ann Brooks, nurse manager at the center.

The application process is extensive and it is also very expensive, Brooks said.

The center does, however, provide information including referrals to students who are pregnant.

Students are sometimes referred to UCLA-affiliated doctors, but the procedure is not done at the UCLA Medical Center because abortions are usually in-office procedures that don’t require hospitalization, Brooks said.

Clinics that administer Mifeprex are located in areas close to UCLA, including some in Santa Monica.

For most students, the decision to terminate a pregnancy is a difficult one to make.

“In 24 years, I have met only one person for whom terminating a pregnancy was easy to go through,” Brooks said.

“Sometimes they’re very unsure and we talk about the options, but usually people know fairly quickly what their plans are going to be,” Brooks said.

Some options discussed include keeping the child, adoption, or ending the pregnancy by either surgical termination or medical termination, which is the function of RU-486.

Most women feel there may be too much cramping and bleeding involved with taking the abortion pill, Brooks said.

“There are not too many students who go that route,” Brooks said.

Abortion patients are often referred to Student Psychological Services.

“It’s a deeply personal thing and you need to have somebody to talk to,” Brooks said.

A student may be feeling angry or embarrassed, Brooks said.

Another issue students deal with is the financial burden.

Recently, students who were interested in RU-486 but could not afford it were referred to a study at USC that focused on the effectiveness of misoprostol alone.

Misoprostol is usually given to patients after taking RU-486. It is a prostaglandin, which is a substance made naturally by the lining of the womb during menstruation that causes the contraction of the uterus.

Previous studies using only misoprostol showed that it successfully ended a pregnancy when administered every 24 hours for three doses.

In this study, doses of misoprostol were delayed by 72 hours to see if there was a difference in efficacy.

“There were no complications in our study,” said Dr. Antonia Nicosia, a clinical instructor at USC.

However, a few students asked for surgical termination after taking misoprostol, Nicosia said.

The Ashe Center offers a variety of birth control methods, including birth control pills, patches, injections, vaginal rings, diaphragms and condoms.