I feel the same way. It's been interesting to watch the responses today. We look like idiots to make a claim and stand firmly against this for no proven reason. Thanks for the links.
As an aside - is this only available for women to by otc? Can men buy it too? I haven't seen anything about this yet...but I haven't done much research either - thought you might know.
J,
Clearly there are ethical reasons to be against EC. HOwever, I am very afraid that we are overstating greatly the case that EC causes an embryo not to implant. I have yet to see any scientific evidence that would detail a mechanism in which the doses of progesterone taken via EC would have any great effect on the uterine lining, except for statements such as "it messes up the hormones". We need to be careful here.
Serge
Hi Rose,
According to this article men buying for their partners can purchase Plan B over-the-counter at pharmacies just like women over 18.
The pharmaceutical company's Plan B website says that it prevents a fertilized egg from implanting. If life begins at fertilization, then it commits an abortion.
What evidence do you have that the pharmaceutical company is lying?
DuraMed Website http://www.go2planb.com/
ForConsu...HowItWorks.aspx
Communion Breath, that website clearly states that Plan B prevents the release of an egg from the ovary, and that it may prevent implantation in the uterus. The anti-implantation clause is more of a safety net in case it somehow does prevent implantation, not an indication of how it works.
Even if someone does prove that it occasionally, in 1% of cases or something, prevent implantation of a fertilized embryo, I think that can be categorized as a risk similar to risks of other medications, and one that you accept upon using it if you choose to.
Ack, sorry J, I'm having problems with Haloscan at the moment. In addition to my above post not being as articulate as I'd have liked, I neglected to tell you that I think this is a wonderful fair post that indicates a healthy level of skepticism and intellectual activity, as opposed to the knee-jerk reactionism that plagues so many "issue" blogs.
Hi Communion Breath,
I'm not 100% sure why the makers of Plan B claim it may prevent implantation. It could as Alexandra says a type of "safety net." It could also be because when the drug was originally released, there weren't many studies which indicated what the drug actually did - so they put implantation factor down as a "could be."
What evidence do you have the company is being accurate?
Communion,
Any glance at the recent medical literature of EC shows many articles discussing the "possible mechanisms" of EC. if you go to pubmed and do a quick search, you will find this to be the case.
The fact that it is still an open question in the medical literature is good reason for a drug company to list it as a possible mechanism of action. It does not indicate that there is actual knowledge that there is an abortifacient effect from taking EC.
BTW, this is not uncommon with medications. We often don't know the exact mechanism of action for many of the drugs that are frequently prescribed. For example, we don;t know the exact mechanism of action for many of the anesthetic medications we frequently give.
Awesome post, J. My thoughts exactly.
Thanks for the support, Jivin J. 
BTW, if you ping my post with a trackback, my readers can find this post (and your blog in general).
I can't figure out how to "trackback," but I've linked to this post at my "Review: Plan B," at LifeEthics.org.
As a nurse practitioner I was taught how to prescribe Plan B using one specific birth control pill. Birth control pills (BCP) have three mechanisms for preventing pregnancy: 1) prevent an egg from being released from the ovary, 2) thin the lining of the endometrium to prevent implantation and 3)prevent implantation in case of fertilization.
The medical community will not list but a few side effects from Plan B. It appears to be the only medication that has very few side effects. And none long term. I have a medical prescribing program on my PDA and actually no side effects are listed. I have learned not to listen to the pharmaceutical reps because they are not honest. Their material is suspect and based on what marketing tells them to prove.
The WHO (World Health Organization) reports a few years back that the number one carcinogen worldwide is estrogen. An obvious component in BCPs as well as treatment for menopause symptoms.
Allowing Plan B to be over the counter in the long term will show devastating health consequences just as abortion has been showing over last decade with increasing breast cancer rates. In the short term, young girls will continue to be used by men in our culture because they can just go get this pill. They are not valued or cherished. Just used and then cleaned out.
There are mutliple concerns with Plan B being available otc that I won't go into at this time but, it is not something that is good for girls/women or society.
Sorry to get off topic, I have a random question.
I'm planning to use the same base DNA to generate both a skin-generated stem cell grown into an egg cell and a skin-generated stem cell grown into a human sperm, and sell the fertilized eggs to women who can't have children. In the long run, I'd like to develop a machine for women who want children. They can simply press a button on their iPhone and a fertilized egg will be created inside of them, sans homme! I'm also thinking of using animal carriers for people who want to avoid the pain of childbirth. If my business really takes off I'd like to use this iPhone app to let a person customize some features of the egg before and during the generation process, such as eventual hair color, eye color, combinations of nutrients inside the womb, spatial intelligence, etc. Of course with such advanced processes, you could forsee giving this woman a lifetime warranty on her product, just in case any parts go bad, during any point in the development process (from sperm to 150-year-old person), we can generate new parts!
Would you warrant stopping the development of any part of the developing organism in any of the above cases?
I forgot to mention I was getting the skin cells from dead rapists and serialkillers.
Commenting by HaloScan
