Full Version: Learning about the Morning-After Pill
America's Debate > Archive > Assorted Issues Archive > [A] Science and Technology > [A] Health and Medicine
The scope of this topic is to enable you to ask questions and post what you know about the so called Morning-After Pill, also known as Emergency Contraceptive Pills. You may also comment on your views regarding whether or not you feel the public is being informed or misinformed about these pills.
Presently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is debating the sale of Morning-After Pills over-the-counter without a prescription at your local drug store. Proponents such at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists feel the pills should be as available as condoms. But opponents disagree for a number of reasons.
One issue for disagreement regards whether or not women will understand what they are doing when they take the pills. Some believe the pills are harmless. But others contend that the pills can harm women and their unborn children.
Unfortunately, the language used in this debate can be lopsided. For example, reporting for the Associated Press, Lauran Neergaard writes: "If fertilization already has occurred, they [Morning-After Pills] also may prevent the egg from implanting into the uterus, the medical definition of pregnancy." However, many would dispute the claim that implantation marks the onset of pregnancy from the standpoint of medical definition.
For example, Dorland's Medical Dictionary defines pregnancy as "the condition of having a developing embryo or fetus in the body, after union of an ovum and spermatozoon." In this regard, it would be unfair to tell women that such pills will not harm a pregnancy if already started.
For example, using a non-standard definition of 'pregnancy' AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard writes: "If a woman already is pregnant, emergency contraception has no effect." But in all fairness, it would seem women have the right to know that emergency contraception may cause the death of an offspring before implantation, in view of Dorland's definition of pregnancy.
It may be noted that in medical literature the expression "clinical pregnancy" meant pregnancy determined by a clinical test, in analogy to the home version known as the Early Pregnancy Test (EPT). Since these tests are generally not effective until around implantation time, some authorities mistook clinically determined pregnancy to mean the clinical definition of pregnancy. However, it would not be correct to imagine that pregnancy does not truly begin until a later time when a given test is able to determine its occurrence.
Another point is that many women do not realize that it is technically incorrect to speaking of "the egg" as "implanting into the uterus" as AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard has done. Instead, it is a known medical fact that eggs cannot implant. Instead, the embryo inside the egg must hatch out of the egg by breaching the shell of the egg. Implantation occurs after seeking out the lining of the maternal uterus and burrowing in.
Also, since such pills are in fact chemical substances powerful enough to thwart a number of natural processes, women may be concerned about possible effects even besides harm to a conceived offspring. For example, the Morning-After Pill contains estrogen, which has been linked to ongoing controversy concerning breast cancer.
What are your views concerning this controversy? Do you think people are adequately familiar with the Morning-After Pill? For example, since proponents want these pills to be sold next to condoms at your local drug store, how do you think public knowledge about Morning-After Pills compares to knowledge of the way a condom works?
News Article: FDA Debates Morning-After Pill, by Lauran Neergaard, AP Medical Writer, Dec. 16, 2003.
Presently, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is debating the sale of Morning-After Pills over-the-counter without a prescription at your local drug store. Proponents such at the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists feel the pills should be as available as condoms. But opponents disagree for a number of reasons.
One issue for disagreement regards whether or not women will understand what they are doing when they take the pills. Some believe the pills are harmless. But others contend that the pills can harm women and their unborn children.
Unfortunately, the language used in this debate can be lopsided. For example, reporting for the Associated Press, Lauran Neergaard writes: "If fertilization already has occurred, they [Morning-After Pills] also may prevent the egg from implanting into the uterus, the medical definition of pregnancy." However, many would dispute the claim that implantation marks the onset of pregnancy from the standpoint of medical definition.
For example, Dorland's Medical Dictionary defines pregnancy as "the condition of having a developing embryo or fetus in the body, after union of an ovum and spermatozoon." In this regard, it would be unfair to tell women that such pills will not harm a pregnancy if already started.
For example, using a non-standard definition of 'pregnancy' AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard writes: "If a woman already is pregnant, emergency contraception has no effect." But in all fairness, it would seem women have the right to know that emergency contraception may cause the death of an offspring before implantation, in view of Dorland's definition of pregnancy.
It may be noted that in medical literature the expression "clinical pregnancy" meant pregnancy determined by a clinical test, in analogy to the home version known as the Early Pregnancy Test (EPT). Since these tests are generally not effective until around implantation time, some authorities mistook clinically determined pregnancy to mean the clinical definition of pregnancy. However, it would not be correct to imagine that pregnancy does not truly begin until a later time when a given test is able to determine its occurrence.
Another point is that many women do not realize that it is technically incorrect to speaking of "the egg" as "implanting into the uterus" as AP Medical Writer Lauran Neergaard has done. Instead, it is a known medical fact that eggs cannot implant. Instead, the embryo inside the egg must hatch out of the egg by breaching the shell of the egg. Implantation occurs after seeking out the lining of the maternal uterus and burrowing in.
Also, since such pills are in fact chemical substances powerful enough to thwart a number of natural processes, women may be concerned about possible effects even besides harm to a conceived offspring. For example, the Morning-After Pill contains estrogen, which has been linked to ongoing controversy concerning breast cancer.
What are your views concerning this controversy? Do you think people are adequately familiar with the Morning-After Pill? For example, since proponents want these pills to be sold next to condoms at your local drug store, how do you think public knowledge about Morning-After Pills compares to knowledge of the way a condom works?
News Article: FDA Debates Morning-After Pill, by Lauran Neergaard, AP Medical Writer, Dec. 16, 2003.
<div><table width='50%' cellpadding='0' cellspacing='0' style='border: 1px solid black' align='center'><tr><td class='maintitle'>
Topic closed...</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Reason: Question to debate too vague. We don't host tests of member's knowledge. <br /><br />Recommended action: If you started this topic, please contact the staff member who closed it by clicking the PM button below this post with a clear question to debate.<br /><br />Helpful links:<br />- Starting New Topics<br />- Survival Guide<br />- The Rules<br />- Staff Directory</td></tr><tr><td class='darkrow1'><div align='center'>Note: This is an automated response.</div></td></tr></table></div>
Topic closed...</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Reason: Question to debate too vague. We don't host tests of member's knowledge. <br /><br />Recommended action: If you started this topic, please contact the staff member who closed it by clicking the PM button below this post with a clear question to debate.<br /><br />Helpful links:<br />- Starting New Topics<br />- Survival Guide<br />- The Rules<br />- Staff Directory</td></tr><tr><td class='darkrow1'><div align='center'>Note: This is an automated response.</div></td></tr></table></div>
This is a simplified version of our main content. To view the full version with more information, formatting and images, please click here.