place and hold firmly in place between knees.
Posted on 12/06/2002 12:52:52 PM PST by toenail
FRIDAY, Dec. 6 (HealthScoutNews) -- Women may now have more options when it comes to emergency contraception.
One is simply an easier method of taking an already-used medication here in the United States, while another is a much smaller dose of the drug called RU486, commonly used to abort pregnancies.
In a new study, World Health Organization (WHO) researchers compared the safety and efficacy of levonorgestrel taken in two doses (already used here and typically called Plan B) to the same drug taken in a single dose of double strength, and to one 10-milligram dose of mifepristone.
The researchers, led by Dr. Helena von Hertzen of the department of reproductive health and research at the WHO, found the three different combinations of drugs to be equally effective and they result in few adverse side effects for women who take them within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse.
In the study, appearing in tomorrow's issue of The Lancet, there was an average 1.6 percent pregnancy rate among all groups. (This varies according to the time of month the woman had intercourse and when she sought emergency contraception, von Hertzen notes. Emergency contraception is generally considered 80 percent effective at preventing pregnancy).
The researchers conducted a randomized trial of 4,071 women who sought emergency contraception (EC) at 15 family planning clinics in 10 countries.
The women either received a single dose of 10 milligrams of mifepristone, a single dose of 1.5 milligrams of levonorgestrel, or two doses of 0.75 milligrams of levonorgestrel, given 12 hours apart.
"Some people may have anticipated that mifepristone would be somewhat more effective than the two levonorgestrel regimens," but this did not turn out to be the case, says von Hertzen.
Others may have expected to see differences in side effects, such as nausea or breast tenderness, but the drugs were fairly similar in their side effect profiles, she adds.
There were a few differences between the drugs. Most women menstruated within two days of the expected date, although women who received mifepristone tended to menstruate later than women who received levonorgestrel. This may not sound like a big deal, but to some women in can be, von Hertzen says. "If menses are late, even if the reason is delayed ovulation, women are worried about the situation. Earlier menstruation also makes it possible to start effective contraception sooner."
Those who received mifepristone had less bleeding due to the medication within the first seven days following treatment (31 percent in the levonorgestrel group versus 19 percent of those on mifepristone).
This can also bother some women, says Dr. Paul Blumenthal, an advisor to the Planned Parenthood Federation of America and a professor of gynecology and obstetrics at John Hopkins University. "Bleeding at unexpected times is worrisome," he says.
He says this study bears good news, because the more options a woman has, the better. Some women won't mind if their period is late and others will be very upset, just as some women will be more disturbed by unanticipated bleeding. "That's why there have to be these choices," he says. "It's really what the woman is most comfortable with."
Women in the United States have three choices right now when it comes to emergency contraception: Preven (a combination of levonorgestrel 0.25 milligrams and Ethinyl Estradiol 0.05 milligrams), Plan B, or the intrauterine device (IUD) inserted after unprotected sex, Blumenthal says.
This study suggests that women can now be offered an alternative to Plan B, he adds. "You could, based on the evidence, advise patients to take two pills of levonorgestrel at one time." This may mean more women will be protected from unwanted pregnancies, he explains. "Any time you ask a patient to do something less often with few side effects, compliance increases."
As for mifepristone, von Hertzen says it's not yet available anywhere: "Ten-milligram mifepristone is not registered, and hence on the market, in any country." Mifepristone, also known as RU486, was approved for abortion purposes in the United States, but a woman must take 600 milligrams.
Blumenthal suggests that if enough women ask for this form of emergency contraception, it may become available.
Von Hertzen advises women to note that while there may be more options of emergency contraception available, taking medication after unprotected sex should not become a regular form of birth control. "Long-term contraception or proper use of condoms is more effective and some methods can prevent up to 100 percent of pregnancies," she says. "It [emergency contraception] should be kept for emergency only, and should never replace other contraceptive methods."
What To Do
For those interested in more about emergency contraception, visit Princeton University or the Planned Parenthood Federation of America.
Copyright © 2002 ScoutNews, LLC. All rights reserved.
Long ago, population controllers worked out a way to deflect criticism of abortifacient drugs and devices. At a 1959 conference, one expert suggested "a prudent habit of speech," hinting that it would be wise to consider implantation-rather than fertilization-the beginning of pregnancy. In 1962, in its "model penal code" project, the American Law Institute recommended legalizing the use of "drugs or other substances for avoiding pregnancy, whether by preventing implantation of a fertilized ovum or by any other method that operates before, at or immediately after fertilization."
In a 1964 Population Council conference, eugenicist Dr. Christopher Tietze pointedly reminded his colleagues that theologians and jurists do listen to doctors and biologists. "If a medical consensus develops and is maintained that pregnancy, and therefore life, begins at implantation, eventually our brethren from the other faculties will listen," he said. A committee of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists soon obliged Tietze by defining conception as "the implantation of a fertilized ovum." With that kind of support, the population controllers were off to the races, developing more and more abortifacients, which they usually referred to as "contraceptives" or simply "birth control."
Mary Meehan, The Road to Abortion [Part 1 of 2], The Human Life Review, Fall 1998
I'm speechless. I don't know where to start on this idiot.
When contraceptive pills were introduced, they were sold as 'birth control' pills, and IUD's were sold as birth control/contraceptive devices ... and they (the pills) did have some preventative effect, holding off ovulation (staving off the release of an egg, to prevent fertilization). But the secondary effect (not to be confused with a lesser number of prevented pregnancies then miscarriages/abortions) was to create a uterine lining inadequacy via hormonal intervention, which usually resulted in termination of any implantation by preventing the uterine circulatory buildup that follows implantation.
In short, contraceptive pills have always been an early form of abortifacient method since the greater percentage of effect is to starve the conceptus of life support from the woman's body. The IUD's worked to create an irritation of the lining, so that an implanted new individual human life would not be able to generate sufficiet nourishment from an iritated lining. These new chemical introductions are primarily effective doing the same thing, and it's instructive to see that they are still being pushed as 'contraception' when they are actually abortifacients.
sufficiet nourishment from an iritated = sufficient nourishment from an irritated
place and hold firmly in place between knees.
He says this study bears good news, because the more options a woman has, the better. Some women won't mind if their period is late and others will be very upset, just as some women will be more disturbed by unanticipated bleeding. "That's why there have to be these choices," he says. "It's really what the woman is most comfortable with."
Yikes.
Hand in hand with that thought, accepting the fact that pregnancy can and does occur if sex happens, and if one does get pregnant, having the baby.
I said ... "for your headache dear"
She said ... "I don't have a headache"
I said .... "AAh HAAAA"
I don't know, I think it has something to do with the infamous male oppression stuff they're always hollering about. Pregnancy makes women subservient and all that rot.
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