the second option, abortion, was already a controversial issue and the proposal of handing out free ru 486 was met with social upheaval, adding to the already-chaotic social scene. the general public believed that the government was not placing due importance on the death of countless fetuses or that it already had a cure and refused to release it. in response, government research facilities were forced to test prospective treatments prematurely and could not pursue explanations for sheva outside of the "disease" category because of the potential reactions from the masses. it was not until viable second-stage fetuses were born that the idea of sheva being a part of evolution rather than a disease began to grow from a few isolated sources.