First, so-called "emergency contraceptives" do not usually prevent conception. Conception most often occurs 6-12 hours after sex. Do you see women having sex on Friday night running out at midnight to the nearest pharmacy shouting "The condom broke! Give me a pill!"
Most women don't know if their contraception failed until after they become pregnant.
This pill is not a contraceptive. It causes an early abortion.
What about Catholic hospitals? Are they going to be required to now perform abortions? What about pro-life Pharmacists? Are they going to have to perform abortions? Catholic hospitals and/or pharmacists need to sue on this. This is a freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and livlihood issue. If a pharmicist refuses to provide this abortion, what will happen to him? Will he have to close his business?
And, what about the women? Pro-aborts must hate women. There are no long-term studys about the side-effects of the "morning-after" pill, which is a combination of two pills, one to prevent conception or, if the baby is already growing, to starve the baby by preventing implantation in the uterus; then another pill to expel the dead embryo. What it women take the pills late? What if the baby is already implanted? What if they repeatedly perform these abortions on themselves? They could become sterile for life or, worse, bleed to death.
The contraceptive mentality, the pro-death culture that the liberals are perpetuating, are deceiving men and women into thinking that there are easy solutions to their "problems".
We can't let it go on.
"Hi, I'm a dumbocrat. In order to make my media cohorts like me more, I am going to pass legislation forcing a large number of the citizens of my state to subsidize behavior which they feel is absolutely immoral. Hyuk hyuk, elekt me, my komrades!"
The best part is that nobody in the gol'durn media finds ANYTHING WRONG WITH THIS!!!
This just serves to remind me how much I HATE CALIFORNIA.
:/ ttt
Next the No Morning Ever After Pills on demand without a prescription and your HMO and fellow tax payers have to pay for your funeral.
These are the actions that Fascists take just before they control everything. Well if they control who gets born and enable a quick out, they control everything.
SIMON, THE SANE ONE!
detsaoT, your reference to "legislation" is incorrect. Gov Gray issued a directive. The legislature is not mentioned in the article. ...Davis is instructing the Department of Managed Health Care, the state's HMO regulator, to inform all HMOs in the state about the new order.... Socialist fiat would better describe this. Edict would also fit.
sw
That's the fundamental problem. Everything else is secondary.
And this comes from a pharmacist who is supposed to know these things??!! One of the many reasons pharmacists should not be prescribing medications. A rape victim belongs in the ER not getting counseling from the pharmacist; an 11 year old should be with her parents and PEDIATRICIAN (good Lord, I was still playing with Barbie); and any woman who gets any kind of prescription drug should be seen by a practitioner trained in treating people not dispensing meds.
Did anybody else hear this?
Boy, what an inspiring pro-lifer Simon is. He sends his campaign minions out to dodge on the abortion issue for him. He could at least do it himself.
The contraceptive mentality, the pro-death culture that the liberals are perpetuating, are deceiving men and women into thinking that there are easy solutions to their "problems".
I'm sorry, Gophack, but you're wrong about contraceptives. If people are going to have sex, they need to use effective birth control to avoid pregnancy. I'm sorry, but America is never going to turn into a "Leave It To Beaver" family paradise where everybody is chaste until marriage. People screw around, have screwed around, and will screw around forever more. The only question is, are they going to continue to pay for their ticket to "ride" with the blood of unborn babies. If they can't be convinced or intimidated into not aborting their babies, then they need to use birth control that works or be sterilized. Unfortunately, the reproductive systems of these people have to be treated like loaded guns in the hands of children.
Now, the problem with the contraceptive revolution thus far has been that there has been no revolution at all. The birth control pill is virtually as useless as a condom at preventing pregnancy when you factor in average usage habits. It requires a lot of discipline -- a trait that happens to be totally at odds with the current "drink & debauch" culture that fuels so many abortion clinics. This is mostly why I am not a contraceptive crusader as of yet. However, there are several extremely advanced methods of contraception currently being developed that work by "hardening" the egg against invasion by a sperm. These new methods have no abortifacient "secondary" functions, since they are not hormonal, and they can be delivered via an injection that lasts for a year or more. When these new contraceptive vaccines become available, I will wholeheartedly support them because they are tailored perfectly for the irresponsible, undisciplined people who have abortions. You can look at it as taking the gun out of their hands...
There's blood in the water!
Recently, the Diocesan Commission For Life had the honor of interviewing Chris Kahlenborn, MD, author of the groundbreaking book, "Breast Cancer: It's Link to Abortion and the Birth Control Pill." Dr. Kahlenborn practices Internal Medicine in Altoona, PA, and is involved in ongoing research on Culture of Life issues. He is a widely recognized expert on the connection between breast cancer and abortion and the birth control pill, as well as the abortifacient effect of many modern contraceptive medications and techniques. He has lectured nationally and internationally on the breast cancer/abortion/birth control link, and has testified before the federal Food and Drug Administration regarding the link between breast cancer and the Pill.
The 2002 March issue of The Annals of Pharmacotherapy just published a study authored by Dr. Kahlenborn entitled "Postfertilization Effects of Hormonal Emergency Contraception." The first of its kind in the mainstream medical literature, this study outlines the abortive properties of the morning after pill (or MAP, also known as Emergency Contraception, EC) and ethical implications for the use of MAP in both secular and Catholic institutions. Dr. Kahlenborn is founder and President of TPRI, The Polycarp Research Institute, which is a non-profit research organization dedicated to the study of medical and clinical issues pertaining to the Culture of Life.
The Diocesan Commission for Life interviewed Dr. Kahlenborn for his perspective on several prominent Culture of Life issues that are being reexamined in light of recent medical developments and headlines in the popular culture.
Q: Dr. Kahlenborn, what is the connection between abortion and breast cancer?
Dr. Kahlenborn: A woman's breast is especially sensitive to carcinogenic (i.e., cancer producing) influences before she delivers her first child. When a woman becomes pregnant, a number of hormone levels increase dramatically in her body. Three especially notable ones are estradiol, progesterone (i.e., the female sexual hormones), and hCG (human Chorionic Gonadotropin). All of these hormones, especially the latter, serve to stimulate immature breast cells to mature into fully differentiated cells. If this process is artificially interrupted by way of an induced abortion, the hormone levels drop suddenly and dramatically, thereby suspending the natural process of maturation of many of the woman's breast cells. This is referred to as a "hormonal blow" by researchers. These cells are now "vulnerable" to carcinogens since they started the maturation process but were never able to complete it. (Cells that have fully matured are less vulnerable to carcinogens than cells that are in the process of maturation).
The bottom line is that induced abortions, by causing a radical shift in a woman's hormonal state, cause at least a 30% increased risk in breast cancer risk, which increases to 50% if a woman aborts her first baby. Currently 28 out of 37 studies show that induced abortion increases the risk of developing breast cancer. For more information see: www.Abortionbreastcancer.com
Q: How do hormonal "contraceptives" work?
Dr. Kahlenborn: Birth control pills (BCPs) are a combination of synthetic estrogen and progestin. Oral contraceptives "fool" the woman's body so that it produces less of the hormones needed for ovulation to occur. Therefore, BCPs suppress -- but do not eliminate-- ovulation. Oral contraceptives have two other main effects: 1) they thin the inner lining of the uterus (called the endometrium), and decrease its thickness. A thinner endometrium has a decreased blood supply. 2) They may thicken the cervical mucus, making it more difficult for the sperm to travel up through the cervix, but the evidence for this is weak.
In a normal cycle, the endometrium slowly builds up before ovulation and then is "ready for the newly conceived child to implant" when it reaches its peak a few days after ovulation. The blood flow increases, the size of the endometrial glands enlarge, and these glands contain important nutritional building blocks for the unborn child who is about to implant.
The BCP causes changes in this lining of the uterus including decreased blood flow, decreased endometrial thickness, and decreased glands containing the nutritional building blocks for the unborn child. Since we know that the birth control pill allows ovulation and conception to occur at times (because BCP's have a 3-10% failure rate), and the pill causes these unfavorable changes in the endometrium that make it difficult for the unborn child to implant, this would support the conclusion that it is an abortifacient. This information is documented in a recent AMA published journal article available online at www.http://archfami.ama-assn.org/issues/v9n2/ffull/fsa8035.html.
Therefore, BCPs work by inhibiting ovulation but also by causing early abortions. I estimate that a woman who is taking the Pill is experiencing one early abortion every 18 months. Statistically if 250 Catholic women are taking the Pill, which would not be uncommon in a large parish, one of those women will actually abort her baby during Mass each year.
Q: How does RU-486 work? (I.e., What is the progression of events after a woman gets the pill?)
Dr. Kahlenborn: RU-486 is an anti-progesterone. Progesterone is necessary for the continued attachment of the baby's placenta to the uterine wall. RU-486 prevents progesterone from working. Once RU-486 is given it is like a hormonal of chemical knife. It causes the death of the placental cells and consequently the placenta detaches from the uterus, killing the baby in the womb. Prostaglandins are usually given 48 hours later to cause the uterus to contract and expel the baby.
RU-486 causes hemorrhage, to varying degrees, which usually occurs at home. This hemorrhage alone can be life threatening, and there are other severe complications. In the medical literature there have been reports of complete cardiovascular collapse and death following administration of RU-486.
Q: How does the morning-after pill work?
Dr. Kahlenborn: Many people think the morning after pill or "Emergency Contraception" is RU-486. It is not. Emergency Contraception, (EC) consists of high dose birth control pills given within 72 hours of unprotected sex or rape. Like BCPs, it works at times by inhibiting ovulation and thickening cervical mucus, preventing conception. However, its abortifacient effect is even more prevalent than the BCP.
When EC is used before ovulation, ovulation may be inhibited in 55-75% of the cases, but the evidence to date indicates that EC does not always inhibit ovulation even if used in the preovulatory phase, before an ovum (egg) is released. It may unfavorably alter the endometrial lining regardless of when in the cycle it is used, with the effect persisting for days. The reduced rates of observable pregnancy compared with the expected rates in women who use hormonal EC are consistent with a postfertilization (or abortifacient) effect, which may occur when hormonal EC is used before or after an ova (egg) is released.
This interpretation of the cited literature has important ramifications, given the polarizing opinions about EC use. For example, many state laws contain conscience clauses in which medical personnel (e.g., physicians, pharmacists, nurses, physician assistants, nurse practitioners) cannot be forced to participate in, or refer for, any surgical or drug-induced abortions. Therefore, evidence in favor of a postfertilization effect may have legal implications for healthcare providers who either prescribe or have objections to prescribing these agents.
Emergency department protocols could also be impacted by evidence of a postfertilization effect. For example, emergency departments of Catholic hospitals usually allow either no use of hormonal EC in their rape protocols or limited use (i.e., preovulatory use of hormonal EC). Catholic hospitals that do allow hormonal EC use prior to ovulation may wish to reassess their policies given the findings that EC use does not consistently stop ovulation and has the potential of causing an early abortion effect even when used prior to ovulation. Most large secular hospitals have fewer limitations on the use of hormonal EC as part of their rape protocols. Nevertheless, evidence of a postfertilization effect from use of hormonal EC is important to physicians who must make a moral decision about prescribing or referring for a drug that can cause an early abortion. Finally, women have the right to fully informed consent. If the abortifacient effect of EC violates the morals of any woman, the failure of any physician or care provider to disclose this information would eliminate the likelihood that the woman's consent was truly informed. Q: Our last question, Dr. Kahlenborn: Why do we need Project Rachel? Dr. Kahlenborn: In my experience, I have treated women who suffer from some aspect of post-abortion syndrome. This is not only a psychological problem but also a spiritual problem. They often present with symptoms of depression, alcoholism, and somatization (real physical pain related to previous psychological trauma.) Project Rachel can address these psychological and spiritual aspects of post-abortion syndrome whereas a physician's time is limited.