Is mifepristone used for other reasons besides medically induced abortions?

While mifepristone's most common use is medically induced abortions, it can also be used as a treatment for Cushing syndrome. 

Mifepristone, which blocks a key pregnancy hormone, is approved by the Food and Drug Administration to help induce a medication abortion in conjunction with misoprostol up to 10 weeks of pregnancy. 

The only other FDA-approved use of the medication is to treat hyperglycemia — high blood glucose — in patients showing signs of Cushing syndrome, a condition caused by sustained high cortisol, or stress hormone, levels. Failure to treat Cushing syndrome can lead to high blood pressure, bone loss and diabetes.

Mifepristone also has off-label uses, which is the common practice of prescribing medications for a condition outside of FDA-approved uses. It has been effectively used as a medication for emergency contraception, to induce labor and treat leiomyomas, sometimes painful benign tumors in the uterus.