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Pro-Lifers Say OTC Morning-After Pill Would Have Disastrous Results
Agape Press ^ | 12/17/03 | Jenni Parker and Bill Fancher

Posted on 12/17/2003 1:49:21 PM PST by truthandlife

As the U.S. Food and Drug Administration considers approving the over-the-counter sale of an emergency contraceptive known as "the morning-after pill," pro-life and pro-family advocates warn that making the drug available without a prescription will have devastating consequences.

In a Tuesday hearing, the FDA heard advice from a panel of 28 gynecologists and pharmacists on whether the agency should approve the over-the-counter (OTC) sale of Plan B, a morning-after pill that can prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex. Since Plan B is most effective if taken within 24 hours, its proponents contend that it should be available without a prescription to give women faster, easier access to it.

The majority of the panelists said the powerful contraceptive is safe and women and girls could figure out for themselves if and when they should take it. The panel voted overwhelmingly (23-4) that the morning-after pill should be approved for sale without a prescription.

After discussing medical and scientific issues, the FDA opened the meeting to the public, and several speakers raised concerns. About two-thirds of them, including several from the National Organization for Women, favored making Plan B a nonprescription drug. But some opponents questioned the pill's safety and its potential effect on abstinence rates and other contraceptive use. And others brought up ethical issues, including whether the way the drug works, whether by preventing ovulation or implantation, would be tantamount to abortion.

Judie Brown The Dangers of Plan B Testifying against the plan to make the morning-after pill a nonprescription drug was American Life League director Judie Brown. She insists that Plan B is dangerous and that the multi-pill regimen takes the life of a newly conceived baby. The pro-life advocate feels the FDA should never have approved the morning-after pill in the first place. "Our federal government should never sanction abortion in any form," Brown says, "whether the means of death are chemical or surgical."

In addition to Plan B's potential abortion-producing effect, Brown says it poses serious health risks to the woman or girl taking it as directed. As she testified at the hearing, the drug contains a chemical that can contribute to heart problems, circulatory problems, blood clots, ectopic pregnancies, and other serious and life-threatening problems.

Brown also pointed out that doctors ordinarily take a complete medical history of a patient before dispensing birth-control pills because prescribing them can be dangerous or lethal without access to that information -- a safeguard that would be removed if Plan B is given over-the-counter status.

Another concern is that having such ready access to Plan B would make it possible for minors to purchase the dangerous drug and take it without their parents' knowledge or consent. Brown says parents should be the ones to decide what type of drugs their children will take and when. "To further erode this natural parental role in our society is to drive another nail into the family coffin," she says.

The Push from Pro-Abortion Forces The FDA does not have to follow the recommendation of the panel, but Brown and other pro-life advocates are concerned that the federal agency is being pushed in that direction by some powerful forces.

Tony Perkins Family Research Council president Tony Perkins suspects that the nation's largest abortion-provider is among these forces. "Only an adherence to a pro-abortion ideology would explain any decision to make the morning-after pill as easy as baby aspirin for uninformed young girls to purchase," he says.

FRC's president asserts that in the Plan B debate, "just as in the swift and politically-motivated approval of the abortion drug RU-486, the FDA has paid more attention to Planned Parenthood than to the real needs of American women and girls."

Perkins hopes the FDA will reverse its course and keep the morning-after pill off pharmacy shelves. "The FDA must put the safety of American women and girls above the wishes of the pro-abortion lobby. They must not allow this drug to go over-the-counter," he says.

Contraception Cover-Up? Brown suggests that some of the support for the over-the-counter sale of Plan B is the result of an uninformed public. But she doubts that the truth about the medically documented dangers of the morning-after pill and other contraceptives will be widely disseminated because that news is not considered "politically correct."

In fact, ALL's director is predicting the media will try to bury recent warnings regarding the use of birth-control pills. A new medical report has revealed that women on birth control pills are at risk of developing dangerous blood clots during extended airline flights.

Brown says the news is not surprising. "There has never been any doubt in the minds of honest people that the pill was very dangerous for women" she says, "because any time you have a female body producing its own hormones, and then additional hormones of an artificial nature are added, there are bound to be problems.

According to Brown, the media has a history of ignoring information that is not considered politically correct. "I think this latest study is just another example of the truth not being told," she says.

In the past, Brown has been among those pro-life activists who chastised the media for not reporting other important stories such as the medically documented link between breast cancer and abortion. She says such oversights are no accident.

"Of course the media is culpable," Brown says, "because the information isn't under a rock somewhere, difficult to find. There are plenty of very credible, scientific pro-life websites today. The problem is not that the correct information is not available. It's that reporters choose not to report on it."


TOPICS: Extended News
KEYWORDS: morningafter; otc; prolife; ru486
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To: truthandlife
Okay, now what about the other thousands of pills and drugs? Can we get those over the counter too? Why not?
eg antibiotics!!!

Think about it. Simple penicillin or cipro or tetracycline. Why not make those available!?!

What is special about abortion pills?

It doesnt compute except through the lens of abortion politics. Jumping through extraordinary hoops to make abortion as easy as possible.

IMHO wrong. Should only allow clinics to give them out with a doctors visit/prescription instead.

And btw, the pro-life movement has some difficulty saying all abortions are equally bad... if this bill replaces the 20-week gestation abortions that tear a preborn sentient human being limb from limb, is it not a bit more humane?
Most pro-choicers would think so and I'm muddled on it myself. I dont think you should deny this, it's a good way to make sure rape victims dont have an abortion later on.
21 posted on 12/17/2003 4:24:55 PM PST by WOSG (The only thing that will defeat us is defeatism itself)
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To: concerned about politics
"A young girl just died from an infection from these pills."

I thought that was Ru-486, which is an abortificant for 6-8 weeks gestation, different from this.

22 posted on 12/17/2003 4:26:16 PM PST by WOSG (The only thing that will defeat us is defeatism itself)
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To: truthandlife
You all sound like a bunch of liberals pushing scare stories. People are too stupid to handle this, therefore, we must ban this to protect people from themselves.

Jeesh, people, get a grip.

Plan B is made up of the normal birth control pill hormones, just in a higher dose. Taking Plan B slows down sperm, preventing conception from taking place.

Get a clue, the abortion industry would prefer that this product not get to market, as Plan B as the potential of reducing the number of abortions.

Let's get in touch with reality, folks. Let's say a 14 year old girl has sex Friday night. The options are, go to the drugstore, buy and take Plan B and have a 99% chance of preventing pregnancy. Or wait till Monday to make an appointment with an OB-Gyn in three weeks. What would you do?

The problem of the girl having sex is still going to have to be dealt with in any case. Now, answer, prevent the pregnancy or go off on some wacko ideological campaign?

23 posted on 12/17/2003 4:49:36 PM PST by Jabba the Nutt
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To: drjimmy
I think that it may also make implantation more difficult, in addition to making fertilization more difficult.

What do you base this on? There are some studies that suggest that Birth control pills (which also prevent implantation) often increase the ability to get pregnant once stopped.

The most common reason they have problems is due to scaring of the fallopian tubes due to Chlamydia that is often not diagnosed in women. (A very good reason not to screw around until married!)

IMHO the morning after pill removes any reason to keep abortion legal. To use abortion as a form of birth control is disgusting. The ability to prevent implantation via regular birth control pills has been practiced from back in the 1960s. This is not new, except the public is learning about it.

24 posted on 12/17/2003 5:20:24 PM PST by paulk
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To: Devlin
FYI
25 posted on 12/17/2003 8:36:32 PM PST by RedBloodedAmerican
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To: jsbankston
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1042518/posts

The answer to that question is "yes." The above is what's really going on in such people's heads.
26 posted on 12/17/2003 9:18:57 PM PST by TheAngryClam (Don't blame me, I voted for McClintock.)
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To: truthandlife
The majority of the panelists said the powerful contraceptive is safe and women and girls could figure out for themselves if and when they should take it.

Sure. Something powerful enough to kill a pregnancy is...not filling your body with poison. DES Daughters....

27 posted on 12/17/2003 9:24:21 PM PST by FlyVet
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To: FlyVet
As opposed to the "vitamins" in chemotherapy, or the "nutrients" in botox, or, for that matter, antibiotics. Not to mention drinking alcohol.

A whole lot of medicine is really just measured poison.
28 posted on 12/17/2003 9:37:44 PM PST by TheAngryClam (Don't blame me, I voted for McClintock.)
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To: WOSG
You're correct.
29 posted on 12/17/2003 9:44:55 PM PST by DaughterOfAnIwoJimaVet
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To: JesusThroughMary; MHGinTN; Coleus; nickcarraway; Mr. Silverback; Canticle_of_Deborah; ...

Please let me know if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.

30 posted on 12/17/2003 9:49:28 PM PST by cpforlife.org (The Missing Key of the Pro-Life Movement is at www.CpForLife.org)
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To: WOSG
I thought that was Ru-486, which is an abortificant for 6-8 weeks gestation, different from this.

Thats correct but Plan B is an abortifacient because it will abort an embryo.

31 posted on 12/17/2003 9:56:15 PM PST by jwalsh07
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To: TheAngryClam
A whole lot of medicine is really just measured poison.

And some of them are designed to save, not kill.

32 posted on 12/17/2003 9:58:56 PM PST by FlyVet
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To: truthandlife
Let's pray that this does not happen!
33 posted on 12/17/2003 11:22:03 PM PST by Salvation (†With God all things are possible.†)
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To: WOSG
This action is purely political, I agree.

Why are there any regulations on "controlled substances" such as antibiotics, antifungals, anti-hypertensives, etc? And, are we willing to enforce them at gunpoint and risk the lives of law enforcement officers?

http://www.teenpregnancy.org/Default.asp?bhcp=1
34 posted on 12/17/2003 11:32:57 PM PST by hocndoc (Choice is the # 1 killer in the US)
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To: truthandlife
I don't get it. Why don't these women just use the dozens of "choices" they have BEFORE they have sex to keep from getting pregnant?

I'll get flamed for this, but are they stupid? Men are pigs (I should know, I am one), they don't care because they don't get pregnant. And with abortion as easy as getting a Big Mac, they just tell the girls, "have an abortion". So why don't the women keep from getting pregnant in the first place.

Abstinence works every time it's tried. Take the pill (which still requires a prescription - so why wouldn't this 'after' pill?), use a condom, etc.

It's as stupid as herion addicts sharing needles and wondering why they get AIDS.
35 posted on 12/17/2003 11:38:43 PM PST by Fledermaus (Fascists, Totalitarians, Baathists, Communists, Socialists, Democrats - what's the difference?)
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To: grania
Yeah, how many are going to abide by the 72 hour limit?
36 posted on 12/17/2003 11:39:29 PM PST by Fledermaus (Fascists, Totalitarians, Baathists, Communists, Socialists, Democrats - what's the difference?)
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Here's a solution: Force all men, at age 14 or so, to put sperm samples into a sperm bank and then clip them.

Problem solved. If they want to have kids, they can withdraw the sperm or get the vasectomy reversed which, with more advanced technology, will be easier to do. Someone would come up with a procedure that isn't cutting and tying and put a "valve" in for that works like and on/off switch!

The feminist would go for it...it's about time the concept of birth control be forced onto the evil, lustful, man! lol
37 posted on 12/17/2003 11:44:16 PM PST by Fledermaus (Fascists, Totalitarians, Baathists, Communists, Socialists, Democrats - what's the difference?)
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To: 2nd amendment mama; A2J; Agitate; Alouette; Annie03; aposiopetic; attagirl; axel f; Balto_Boy; ...
ProLife Ping!

If anyone wants on or off my ProLife Ping List, please notify me here or by freepmail.

38 posted on 12/18/2003 8:44:21 AM PST by Mr. Silverback (Pre-empt the third murder attempt-- Pray for Terry Schiavo!)
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To: jsbankston
I have to get an annual physical exam in order to be prescribed my birth control patch - and that's at a far smaller dose than what's contained in Plan B. There are very good reasons why hormonal contraceptives require a prescription. What effect will this have on a heavy smoker, who should not take ANY birth control pills? Ditto for any other contraindications for birth control pills - do they apply to Plan B? I can see scared teenage girls getting their hands on this and going overboard or overdosing in the hopes it will help.

I might be OK with allowing it to be dispensed "behind the counter" and with counseling on side effects by a registered pharmacist to women older than 18 - minors should have to have a doctor's prescription to obtain this drug. Although I am not keen on the use of this drug, IMO it is better for a woman to use it than to wait 6 or 8 weeks and then have an abortion. Sort of a choice of the lesser evil...
39 posted on 12/18/2003 9:14:58 AM PST by Rubber_Duckie_27
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To: FlyVet
Something powerful enough to kill a pregnancy is...

The pills don't kill any pregancy as the egg never implants - just as happens to more than half of fertilized eggs naturally.

40 posted on 12/18/2003 7:25:30 PM PST by paulk
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