"Morning-after Pill"

[FizzingWhizzbees]

I just wondered if anyone has any thoughts on this. It's a UK Court case, so I'm not sure how the legislation surrounding this differs from that in the US - can anyone tell me?

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Court challenge to morning after pill policy

The government's decision to make the morning after pill available over the pharmacy counter faced a legal challenge in the High Court on Tuesday.

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children argues that the pill is a form of early abortion, and should therefore be subject to abortion rules.

The action is being taken under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which forbids the supply of any substance with the aim of causing a miscarriage.

The group have already successfully bid for a judicial review of the policy.

Speaking on the BBC Radio 4 Today programme the national director of SPUC, John Smeaton, described the emergency contraception as a "cynical deception of women."

"We think it is deliberately promoted as contraception because...if you talk directly about abortion women do not like it.

"What we have is almost entirely unsupervised abortion by pill," he said.

If the court rules in favour of SPUC, all forms of contraception could be called into question.

Anne Furedi of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service said that emergency legislation would be needed if such a decision was reached.

"In a civilised modern society the government would have to step in to take measures to allow women to benefit from modern science of contraception," she said.

The case is set to continue.

(http://uk.news.yahoo.com/020212/143/cs4rs.html)

 

[Screaming Flower]

i don't know what the legislation is currently but i definitely think it should be legal. it would lower the number of accidental pregnancies which would in turn lower the number of abortions.

 

[Klodomir]

I'm with Cosmo on this one. I think they did a great job. It's not a perfect solution, but it's certainly preferable to abortion.

 

[pax]

The morning after pill is NOT abortion. It does nothing to a conceived embryo. It helps to prevent conception from occurring. No fetus/embryo/child/whatever is involved yet. The people suing over this apparently don't even know what the morning after pill does.

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If you cannot live together in here, you cannot live together out there, let me tell ya. --Bono

You've got to cry without weeping, talk without speaking, scream without raising your voice... --Bono

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

it should be legal. as everyone else has said, it isn't abortion. the morning after pill can help in instances where a condom breaks, for example. i still say the best form of birth control (aside from abstinence, lol) is the injected kind. it's more reliable than the pill or condoms.

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and your heart beats so slow through the sleet and driving snow, across the fields of mourning lights in the distance...
ME! all day, every day!
"...a poptart in pants..." -- elizabeth

 

[DoctorGonzo]

i still say the best form of birth control (aside from abstinence, lol) is the injected kind. it's more reliable than the pill or condoms.

True 'dat.

Depo-Provera is more reliable than surgical sterilization.

 

[Angela Harlem]

Originally posted by KhanadaRhodes:
it should be legal. as everyone else has said, it isn't abortion. the morning after pill can help in instances where a condom breaks, for example. i still say the best form of birth control (aside from abstinence, lol) is the injected kind. it's more reliable than the pill or condoms.

It can also be effective fomr 2 weeks only for up to 5 years.

Conception starts in the 1st 72 hours. If abortion is ok, then the morning after is ok. And vice versa.

New question, is a cell that will become a fetus and become a human worth less than a further advanced one?
How and why?

 

[sulawesigirl4]

I'm really curious to know what would happen if the woman took the pill later than "the morning after". Would it damage the developing baby and not kill it, but cause deformation? Abort it post-conception? Have no effect whatsoever? I wonder if there is any research on this.

 

[Screaming Flower]

my friend took it (apparently too late) and ended up having a healthy baby boy.

 

[bonovista]

You can get the morning after pill from your primary care doctor for a fee of around 75 dollars. The doctor will ask you over the phone the time of day you had the unprotected intercourse.

It's also given as part of the rape kit at the hospital or doctor's office when a victim seeks medical attention.

 

[Peaseblossom]

I definately think that it should be legal and easy to get by asking a pharmacist. Calling your doctor at 2:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning isn't likely to help. Most doctor's offices (ob/gyn) are only open - and that puts it off for two days.

Off subject, to those who are proponents- care to discuss any side effects of depo? I've heard conflicting reports.

 

[joyfulgirl]

$75 is too high for a pill, a very important pill.

 

[Klodomir]

Originally posted by Peaseblossom:
Off subject, to those who are proponents- care to discuss any side effects of depo? I've heard conflicting reports.

A friend of mine got an extremely nasty rash from it that lasted for two months. I had no idea that this could happen until she told me.

 

[Klodomir]

Originally posted by joyfulgirl:
$75 is too high for a pill, a very important pill.

I'm not sure about that. Seen from the perspective of someone who genuinely slipped up or had an accident, I agree, but I think that making it cheap or free could have very far-reaching consequences. Sure it's expensive, but hopefully it's a once-in-a-lifetime expense.

 

[DoctorGonzo]

$75 is too high for a pill, a very important pill.

"Morning After Pill" is a bit of a misnominer, I believe. If I recall correctly, it is a series of varied medications taken in seqence and close proximity to one another.

Which explains the cost.

Though, I agree, it is still too high.

 

[joyfulgirl]

Originally posted by DoctorGonzo:
"Morning After Pill" is a bit of a misnominer, I believe. If I recall correctly, it is a series of varied medications taken in seqence and close proximity to one another.

Which explains the cost.

Though, I agree, it is still too high.

That makes more sense. I am a bit ignorant about what it is exactly.

And Klodomir--you make a good point, too.

 

[LarryMullen's POPAngel]

I agree, this ought to be legal, and at the cost it's at right now too.



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You can tear it up
If you can tie me down

 

[Vorsprung]

It's legal in The Netherlands and costs about $8,- (depends a bit of what kind of pill you need/use)

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Vorsprung durch Technik

 

[melon]

It probably costs so much in the U.S. versus the Netherlands, because other nations are smart enough to regulate health care prices. Pharmaceutical companies, knowing that other nations regulate the prices lower than what they want, make up for the "lost profit" by inflating the American price proportionately. Hence, Americans are being gouged, but that's what you get with oligopolies and a government that couldn't care less.

Melon

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"He had lived through an age when men and women with energy and ruthlessness but without much ability or persistence excelled. And even though most of them had gone under, their ignorance had confused Roy, making him wonder whether the things he had striven to learn, and thought of as 'culture,' were irrelevant. Everything was supposed to be the same: commercials, Beethoven's late quartets, pop records, shopfronts, Freud, multi-coloured hair. Greatness, comparison, value, depth: gone, gone, gone. Anything could give some pleasure; he saw that. But not everything provided the sustenance of a deeper understanding." - Hanif Kureishi, Love in a Blue Time

 

[Achtung Bubba]

I'm not sure about the science of the so-called abortion pill, so I can't speak about its morality or legality.

What I *do* find interesting is the name of the pill - or, at least, the most famous/infamous variant: RU-486.

The online version of the American Heritage Dictionary (bartleby.com) defines "eighty-six" as

To throw out; eject. b. To throw away; discard.

Given that, the name "RU-486" reads like an ominous vanity car tag:

"Are you for 86?"

 

[pax]

::

RU-486 is NOT a variant of the morning-after pill. The morning after pill works to PREVENT CONCEPTION. In other words, conception has not yet taken place. An egg has not been fertilized or, if it has, it has not become implanted in the lining of the womb.

RU-486 is a combination of two abortifacient drugs (mifepristone and misoprostol) which cause a woman's uterus to contract and expel anything in it, including a fetus/embryo/baby/whatever you want to call it. Make no mistake, RU-486 is an abortion pill. The "morning after pill" is not.

The "morning after pill" is only effective until about 72 hours after intercourse has taken place (and that's the absolute ceiling.) RU-486 must be taken within the first 45 days of pregnancy, or else serious complications can occur.

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If you cannot live together in here, you cannot live together out there, let me tell ya. --Bono

You've got to cry without weeping, talk without speaking, scream without raising your voice... --Bono

 

[Achtung Bubba]

Thanks for the clarification. As I said, I'm a bit shaky about the differences between the pills.

And given your explanation (that the pill causes "a woman's uterus to contract and expel anything in it"), I find the name "RU-486" that much creepier.

But, since I confused the two, feel free to focus this discussion on the "morning-after" pill solely.

 

[pax]

Ain't no thang.

A lot of people oppose the morning-after pill because they think it is an abortifacient, and it's not. I think it's important that the distinction is made, because the morning-after pill is one of the best weapons the pro-life community has against the abortion argument. The morning-after pill, like the traditional birth control pill, only prevents conception. It does not cause abortions.

It's vital that women who are raped, for example, have access to the morning-after pill. And all women, really, should have easy and affordable access to the morning-after pill. Could really cut down on abortions if it were more readily available and more people understood it.

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If you cannot live together in here, you cannot live together out there, let me tell ya. --Bono

You've got to cry without weeping, talk without speaking, scream without raising your voice... --Bono

 

[KhanadaRhodes]

i agree. i'm not sure about the health benefits/risks of using the morning after pill, but i'm sure it's a lot safer than an abortion. i've heard having an abortion (especially multiple ones) can cause future fertility problems, as well as possible health risks. i'm not entirely sure and i could be completely wrong, though...