ABORTION

Catholic Citizens of Illinois ^ | 12-16-03 | Barbara Kralis

[wisconsinconservative]

bump for later reading

[litany_of_lies]

The "gradualism" theory you refer to usually works for evil enterprises and seldom does for good ones.

The problem is that most of the prolife movement has deliberately not made the abortificant argument about many of the contraception methods during the last 30 years. So today anyone, including the Pope, who attempts to make this argument is either ignored by the press or written up as a wacko when covered. Meanwhile, we have the pro-death forces pursuing parents' rights to kill infants up to 6 months to a year (Peter Singer and company) and a burgeoning "right to die" (duty to die/right to kill/futile care) movement.

So we have a ban on PBA (maybe), which if enforced (dubious) reduces abortions by maybe 0.5%. We have thousands of marvelous, compassionate people in the trenches every day helping women to see the other alternatives, which probably saves 100,000 babies per year. Meanwhile about a million fetal-stage pre-borns recognizable as human are killed each year. Untold millions of pre-borns at the fertilized-egg stage and slight further are killed (yes, killed) because the Pill and the morning-after pill often don't prevent conception but do prevent implantation. (More scientifically inclined readers, please forgive the lack of technical precision)

Thanks to the prolife movement's tactics, it will take every bit of 50 years and some luck to get the public to understand how both Pills often kill babies. Hindsight is 20-20, but it seems clear now that taking the principled holistic life-based argument from the very beginning after Roe v Wade couldn't possibly have taken longer, would likely have at least have ended "visible" abortion much sooner, and would have made the Peter Singers and Hemlock Society arguments appear as the real wackos.

[SpookBrat]

If he has plans to sleep with my daughter, then I most certainly appreciate the state limiting his ability to buy condoms.

[cpforlife.org]

Sadly this seems a done deal, see below:

Whether the FDA approves the drug for over the counter sales may be irrelevant. At least one Internet web site sells Plan B online. Women purchasing the drug complete an online consultation that doctors review. If approved to buy the drugs, they are shipped in discreet packaging.

http://www.lifenews.com/nat247.html

FDA Advisory Panel Recommends Morning-After Pill for OTC Sales

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 17, 2003

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- It didn't take long for a Food and Drug Administration advisory committee to give the go-ahead, on a 23-4 vote, to sell the morning after pill over the counter rather than only via a prescription.

Backers of the drugs claimed that they could reduce unintended pregnancies and abortions.

"There is a public health imperative to increase access to emergency contraception,'' said Dr. Vivian Dickerson, president-elect of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.

The makers of "Plan B," and abortion advocates, say it is an emergency contraception that be taken within 72 hours of having sex to stop pregnancy.

However, pro-life groups say the pills sometimes cause an abortion.

Plan B because, like another "morning-after" pill called Preven, can prevent the implantation of an unborn child into the uterus following fertilization, forcing the body to artificially reject the pregnancy and killing the newly-conceived unborn child.

"In the case of the morning-after pill, it has proven in some cases to act as an abortifacient. When this occurs, we have no choice but to oppose its use and err in favor of protecting life," said Arizona Right to Life in a statement.

Cathy Cleaver Ruse, Director of Planning and Information for the USCCB Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, agreed. "A drug which destroys human embryos and puts women at greater risk of ectopic pregnancy does not belong on the shelves of a drug store. American women and children do not deserve this reckless experiment on their lives."

The FDA doesn't have to follow the recommendations of its advisory panels, though it usually does. A decision by the FDA is expected by mid-late February.

If the FDA approves over the counter sales of the drugs, they would only be sold in stores that have a valid pharmacy or drug wholesale license -- not convenience stores.

Some of the members on the FDA advisory committee said they wanted teenagers' use of the drugs limited and they argued there hasn't been enough study of the drugs effects on teens.

"I'm concerned there will be an exploitation of young women's fears about becoming pregnant,'' leading them to overuse the pills, said panelist Dr. Susan Crockett, a Texas gynecologist and director of maternity services at CHRISTUS Santa Rosa in San Antonio.

"If you remove the need for a patient to talk to me, you remove my ability to help them," Crockett said.

Dr. John Bruchalski, speaking for the Catholic Medical Association, agreed. "Without medical advice, the use of Plan B by teens will be disastrous," he said.

However, most panel members said the FDA couldn't enforce any guidelines preventing or limiting teen use of the drugs if they are sold over-the-counter. States could be open to passing laws limiting their use, depending on the final outcome from the FDA.

Some on the panel wanted the company to remove information accompanying the drugs saying they do not cause abortions.

Pro-life groups also say the drugs are harmful to women.

"Approving over-the-counter access to a high dose of this drug, when a lower-dose cannot be obtained without a medical exam, physician oversight and prescription, exposes women, teen-agers and girls to complications such as blood clots and heart attacks," explained Wendy Wright of Concerned Women for America.

Forty-four members of Congress wrote to the FDA last week saying the drug should not be available over the counter.

The drug involves the use of two tablets, one taken 12 hours after the other. The drugs contain a much higher dosage of progestin, the hormones used in birth control. The drugs cost $25-30, though a price hasn't been set for over the counter sales.

Five states, including Washington, California, Alaska, Hawaii and New Mexico, already allow women to buy the drugs directly from pharmacists, though they are not on the shelves of stores. It is sold without a prescription in 33 countries.

Whether the FDA approves the drug for over the counter sales may be irrelevant. At least one Internet web site sells Plan B online. Women purchasing the drug complete an online consultation that doctors review. If approved to buy the drugs, they are shipped in discreet packaging.

You can contact the FDA to voice your opinion on making Plan B an over-the-counter drug. The phone number is 888-463-6332.

Related web sites:
Food and Drug Administration - http://www.fda.gov

[cpforlife.org]

Welcome to Free Republic.

[Rubber_Duckie_27]

"Five states, including Washington, California, Alaska, Hawaii and New Mexico, already allow women to buy the drugs directly from pharmacists, though they are not on the shelves of stores."

I would prefer that this be the method of dispensing this drug without a prescription - and it should require that the woman buying it be 18 or older. No scared 15 year old should be able to walk into a drugstore and buy this medication as easily as she could buy aspirin! If making this drug more available means that women who make a mistake might take it instead of waiting a few months for an actual abortion, then I feel it's OK. I just would want to ensure that minors are restricted from purchasing it, and that even adult women recieve counseling on the potential side effects of the drug. Hormonal contraceptives require prescriptions for VERY good reasons! It looks as if making this OTC is a done deal, but there could still be controls in place for the dispensing of this potentially-dangerous drug.

Although I respect the beliefs of others, it will be a cold day in hell before I allow extreme pro-lifers to make birth control pills illegal. My fiance and I are both pro-life, but intend to limit the size of our family to a maximum of four or five kids. Frankly, we could not possibly financially support a huge family and still allow one parent to stay home with kids. We also intend to NOT start our family immediately after marriage. We don't consider controlling the size and spacing of our family to be a sinful act. Those who want to outlaw condoms or any form of birth control are not doing the pro-life cause any favors, because the majority views them as insane.

[Modernman]

I think this is already a lost battle for pro-lifers. This pill will be in the medicine cabinets of the majority of American women within a couple of years.

[ckca]

because the majority views them as insane.

They view Jesus the same.

If you take the Pill, You are killing babies. So do real pro-lifers a favor: do not claim to be pro-life.

[Modernman]

Europe's problem is that it is too unwilling to demand that the immigrants to its nation change their attitudes and culture to the dominant one. America has the same problem.

An excellent point. If we focus on assimilating hispanics in this country, a couple of generations from now the only change in America will be that the average American will have a better tan.

[Modernman]

If he has plans to sleep with my daughter, then I most certainly appreciate the state limiting his ability to buy condoms.

He'll still end up sleeping with your daughter. He'll just end up doing it without a condom. Better result?

[Diamond]

There is not one word about condoms in the article. You brought that up. The article is about over the counter retail sales of powerful hormones that are not necessarily contraceptive in nature, but which on countless occasions act as abortifacients.

If the government by this recommendation is not only devaluing human life, but undermining the role of parents in a civilized society to care for, nurture and provide for the well-being of their children, then there is no more picking of battles; there is no battle left.

Cordially,

[Modernman]

If you take the Pill, You are killing babies. So do real pro-lifers a favor: do not claim to be pro-life

If the rest of the pro-life movement held this view, abortion would remain legal forever because nobody would ever listed to pro-lifers. Fight the battles you can win. The birth-control pill is not something you'll ever be able to get rid of.

[TheAngryClam]

See, welcome to the pro-life hell that I talked about at the beginning.

No sense of how to actually change culture. They'll just scream "MURDERER!" and "JESUS!!!" all day long, leaving anyone who's normal to just shrug and walk away.

They're like the Howard Dean fanatics, but conservative.

[ckca]

The birth-control pill is not something you'll ever be able to get rid of.

They said the same of slavery and many other things.

[luckystarmom]

There is a big difference between the morning-after pill and abortions.

The morning-after pill prevents the fertilized egg from implanting, much like an IUD. It makes the uterus unfriendly to a fertilized egg, thus preventing pregnancy.

I have an IUD, and I think there is a big difference between this and abortions.

If you want to ban the morning-after pill, then you have to ban the IUD and I don't think that will ever happen.

Now, if you want to talk about whether or not the morning-after pill should be sold over the counter. I don't think it should. I think it will be misused, and it will probably cause women harm.

[Modernman]

They said the same of slavery and many other things.

Maybe. But, to tell you the truth, I'm not willing to fight another civil war over tiny clusters of cells (which is what the pill terminates). I may be anti-abortion, but I don't see the pill as a type of abortion.

[Diamond]

If making this drug more available means that women who make a mistake might take it instead of waiting a few months for an actual abortion, then I feel it's OK

What is an "actual" abortion? A non-hypothetical abortion?

Sorry, my FRiend; if you and your sex partner are using these drugs for "birth control" then you are deliberately risking the abortion killing of a new human being, because a woman cannot know in advance when any of these drugs will prevent fertilization or block implantation. These hormones are not necessarily contraceptive in nature.

In a civilized society, parents are deemed responsible for the care and nurture of their children. To ingest such drugs knowing that they may cause the death of one of your children is the moral equivalent of criminally negligent homicide. For the government to undermine human life and the family itself by allow OTC sales of these substances to minors without parental knowledge and consent is reprehensible.

Cordially,

[cmsgop]

Oh Man! LMAO!

[Diamond]

To say that "the morning-after pill prevents the fertilized egg from implanting, much like an IUD", is a misnomer in the extreme. Properly speaking, at ferilization there is no more egg because both egg and sperm have ceased to exist. They have fused to become a new human being - one, like you, who has never existed before and will never exist again. The beginning of each individual human life, is at the beginning; ie, at fertilization. These facts are scientifically and ontologically incontrovertable.

Cordially,

[Erik Latranyi]

I honestly did not read the entire article nor all the posts so far.

I am completely against the OTC sales of this pill.

It is basically a higher dose of normal birth control.

The normal dose requires a prescription, the higher does would not. That does not make sense.