Posted on 02/05/2010 9:48:25 AM PST by BIOCHEMKY
For the first time ever, the Pentagon is requiring military bases worldwide to offer the so-called morning-after pill.
WASHINGTON - The Pentagon for the first time will require military bases worldwide to offer emergency contraception or the so-called morning-after pill, a military spokesman told Fox News Friday.
The decision follows a recommendation by an independent panel of doctors and pharmacists in November, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. The panel determined that emergency contraception should be added to the military's list of medications that must be stocked at each military facility.
The decision represents a policy shift from the Bush administration when such a change was resisted, Nancy Keenan, president of the abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America, said in a statement praising the decision.
Over much resistance from abortion opponents, the Food and Drug Administration approved the over-the-counter sale of the morning-after pill to adults in 2006.
The drug, which contains a high dose of birth control pills, can be used to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex by blocking ovulation or fertilization. Critics of the contraceptive say it is the equivalent of an abortion pill because it can prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus.
It is not known when the policy would be implemented.
Military hospitals are legally forbidden to perform abortions. When asked if the new policy violated that law, Whitman had no immediate response and said he'd have to defer to the policy experts.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Usually. While the intended effect of such birth control is to eliminate ovulation altogether, in a certain percentage of cases, ovulation may still occur which of course may lead to fertilization in a sexual active woman. The hormones contained in the "pill" prevent the fertilized eggs from implanting themselves in the uterine wall, ergo a kind of abortion.
The pills with lower doses of hormones, and some of the other monthly pills may only stop ovulation less than 60% of the time. This is the unspoken secret of the modern-day birth control pill.
Why not just inject the female soldiers with Depo-Provera? After all it literally prevents women from menstruating and getting pregnant. It has to be injected every three months and on time and it’s a good idea, especially with all the desert conditions they have to live with. I can’t imagine how gross it is to have your period while in the desert and not bathing for months on ends. GROSS!
News to me. I’ll check it out.
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