ROCKVILLE, Maryland (CWNews.com) - The introduction of the French abortion pill RU-486 moved closer to full approval by the US Food and Drug Administration last week.

    The FDA sent a letter to the New York-based Population Council -- which holds the license to manufacture and distribute the drug, also known as mifepristone, in the US -- indicating a six-month deadline to final approval. The FDA has requested information regarding manufacture and labeling.

    If the drug receives FDA approval, the council intends to have the drug manufactured by Danco Laboratories of New York. With approval, Danco "can get moving fairly quickly" to distribute the drug, according to council spokesman Sandra Waldman.

    Although Waldman declined to estimate how many US women might use the drug, she said that about 500,000 European women have used it since it was first approved in France, Sweden, and the United Kingdom 10 years ago.

    In a related story, out of Boston a security guard injured in the 1994 shooting at a Massachusetts abortion clinic on Friday filed a lawsuit in federal court against two pro-abortion groups, claiming they owe him a $100,000 reward for catching the shooter.

    Richard J. Seron sued Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation for the reward for catching John Salvi III, a mentally ill man convicted of killing two women and five others in the shootings at two clinics in 1994. Salvi died in prison in 1996, his hands tied behind his back and a noose around his neck. Authorities ruled his death a suicide.

    Seron said he fired back at Salvi after being wounded, forcing Salvi to flee, leaving behind a bag of weapons and ammunition that led to his arrest. Planned Parenthood and the National Abortion Federation set up a $1 million reward fund in 1993 to help solve attacks on abortion clinics. Seron said his request for a $100,000 reward was rejected.

    Seron was shot four times. He said he suffers from post-traumatic stress and depression as a result of the shooting. Seron also has sued the owners of the building where the shooting took place, arguing that they were negligent by not posting a police officer at the clinic. A jury rejected that lawsuit in March 1999.