When RU-486 was approved by the Food and Drug Adminisration (FDA) this past fall, the national media hailed the new drug as a revolutionary alternative to surgical abortions.

And now, through University Health Services (UHS), Harvard students can opt to have an RU-486 abortion at several Boston-area clinics.

But many campus groups who do pregnancy and crisis counseling for students say they do not expect the new abortion option to significantly alter their counseling methods.

And RU-486 has arrived at Harvard with little fanfare from pro-choice groups and minimal protest from pro-life organizations.

Instead, leaders of groups like Room 13 and Peer Contraceptive Counselors (PCC) say they foresee the need to educate their members about RU-486 and incorporate the new option into their counseling services.

"We expect a lot of questions about RU-486," says Room 13 Chair Neil R. Brown '01. "So as a peer group we'll need to educate ourselves about it, as well as deal with the normal frustrations that accompany these decisions [surrounding student pregnancies]."

Ashley E. Tessier '02, chair of PCC, says the group will work to educate students about how RU-486 works in a woman's body and the necessary medical care surrounding a RU-486 abortion--which includes at least three doctor visits, heavy bleeding and cramping, and in 5 percent of cases, a possible surgical procedure to complete the abortion.

"The process will become a topic we are trained on, and educate about in outreaches," she says.