Pro-Life Issues
Emergency Contraception / Plan B
The Basics
Emergency contraception, also known as the "morning after pill" are high dose hormone pills taken within 72 hours after unprotected sexual intercourse, to prevent a pregnancy. Emergency contraception, essentially, is a high dosage of the birth control pill (between 15 and 40 times higher).
There are three different ways birth control pills are currently being promoted for this use: progesterone alone, estrogen alone, or both of these artificial steroids together. Again, these are the same steroids found in the typical birth control pill. Two of the most commonly used emergency contraceptive pills are Preven and Plan B.
How It Works
The morning-after pill works in three different ways (as does the regular birth control pill).
- It can stop the release of an egg (ovum) from the ovary;
- it can prevent fertilization of an egg by altering the cervical mucus to slow the sperm and the egg; and
- it can prevent the fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. [1]
Fertilization, also called conception, is the union of female ovum, or egg, and male sperm and it occurs in the fallopian tube. Once that happens, there is a new human life -- one with it's own unique DNA, different from the mother's. The newly created child then travels down the fallopian tube to the uterus (womb) where he or she implants. Implantation is necessary for the new child to receive nourishment from the mother and continue developing. The journey from the fallopian tube to the womb takes between five and seven days during which pregnancy cannot be readily detected.
Because emergency contraception can alter the lining of the uterus, making implantation impossible, thus causing the death of the child, it is an abortifacient (something that causes pregnancy to end prematurely and causes an abortion).
Some people argue that emergency contraception does not cause an abortion, because there is no pregnancy until implantation. However, any reputable science textbook defines conception as the beginning of life.
Side Effects
Not only could emergency contraception kill a tiny preborn life in its earliest stages, but the 'morning-after' pill is also very dangerous to a woman's health.
From the package inserts, the most common side effects include nauseau, abdominal pain, fatigue, headache and changes in menstruation. Other side effects include dizziness, vomiting, and diarrhea. [2]
The low dose of Plan B is a birth control pill. Birth control pills require a prescription because, for a variety of reasons, women need medical oversight when taking it. It can cause blood clots, heart attacks and strokes.[3] Women who are sexually active should be regularly tested for conditions that may not produce symptoms. And under-age, sexually-active girls deserve counseling and help in case they are in a coerced or abusive relationship.
Plan B contains the same active ingredient as Norplant, a hormonal contraceptive removed from the market in the U.S. because of its dangerous side effects. More than 36,000 women have been awarded over $50 million for injuries caused by Norplant.
The dose of estrogen in the current birth control pill, which is erroneously billed as "safe", has potency four times greater than that of the estrogen used in hormone replacement therapy (HRT). HRT has been conclusively shown to increase the risk of stroke (41%), pulmonary embolism (113%), breast cancer (26%), and coronary heart disease (29%).[4]
Additionally, the 'morning-after' pill causes an increase in the incidence of ectopic pregnancies (the embryo implants in the Fallopian tube, rather than the uterus.) "The common side-effects of the 'morning-after pill' (nausea and abdominal pain) are also the symptoms of an ectopic pregnancy and could therefore mask the presence of this potentially life-threatening condition."[5]
Other Concerns
On August 24, 2006, the Food and Drug Administration approved the sale of "Plan B" to adult women (and men) without a prescription. Planned Parenthood encourages women to stock this "emergency contraception" in their medicine cabinet "just in case," saying it will obviously reduce the number of abortions.
However, in 2007, in a study done by James Trussell and Elizabeth Raymond, both of whom are proponents of emergency contraception, found that "no published study has yet demonstrated that increasing access to ECPs can reduce pregnancy or abortion rates in a population, although one demonstration project and three clinical trials were specifically designed to address this issue." Instead, access to the morning-after pill showed that "previous expectations that improved access could produce a direct, substantial impact on a population level may have been overly optimistic."[6] And they question the morning-after pill's effectiveness, noting that "the published efficacy figures calculated from currently available data on this regimen...may overstate actual efficacy, possibly quite substantially. Clearly, if the method is only weakly efficacious, it is unlikely to produce a major reduction in unintended pregnancy rates no matter how often women use it."[7]
Despite such studies, on March 27, 2009, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman ordered that Plan B be made available to 17-year-olds, without a prescription. He also told the FDA to reconsider making the drug available to girls of all ages without a prescription.
At home and abroad, groups which seek to promote emergency contraception ignore the scientifically-proven risks of levonorgestrel (the sole active ingredient of Plan B). These well-documented adverse side effects include significant weight gain (on average 15 pounds), depression, ovarian cyst enlargement, gallbladder disease, high blood pressure, respiratory disorders, increased risk of ectopic pregnancy and death. In some women, these serious adverse effects of levonorgestrel-type emergency contraceptives could lead to further health risks for bulimia, anorexia, or clinical depression.
Most importantly, there are no long-term studies to show whether women, especially young women, will be permanently damaged, or risk such diseases as cancer, from these chemicals being given in such high doses.
Notes:
1 Plan B Drug Information, from RXList, the internet drug listing, http://www.rxlist.com/plan-b-drug.htm
2 Ibid.
3 WebMD, Birth Control Pills - Types, Effectiveness and Side Effects. http://www.webmd.com/sex/birth-control/birth-control-pill?page=3
4 National Institutes of Health, "NHLBI Stops Trial of Estrogen Plus Progestin Due to Increased Breast Cancer Risk, Lack of Overall Benefit", July 9, 2002. http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/new/press/02-07-09.htm
5 Sheffer-Mimouni G, Pauzer D, Maslovitch S et al. Ectopic pregnancies following emergency levonorgestrel contraception. Contraception, April 2003. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12684145
6 Trussell J, Raymond EG (April 2007). "Emergency contraception: a cost-effective approach to preventing unintended pregnancy" (PDF). Princeton University. http://ec.princeton.edu/questions/ec-review.pdf.
7 Ibid.
