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Posted on 01/24/2002 8:33:15 PM PST by Brian Kopp DPM
THE ANNALS OF PHARMACOTHERAPY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 22, 2002
Contact: Stanley J. Lloyd, PharmD
Telephone: 513/793-3555
FAX: 513/793-3600
E-mail: theannals@theannals.com
www.theannals.com
DOES THE MORNING-AFTER PILL PREVENT PREGNANCY, OR CAUSE ABORTION? CINCINNATI, Ohio – Morning-after pill regimens have gained attention recently as a form of emergency contraception, drugs taken by a woman shortly after unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy. Advocates of these regimens claim they are morally and ethically acceptable because, unlike the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone (RU-486), they prevent pregnancy rather than abort an existing life. However, a report just released by The Annals of Pharmacotherapy shows evidence that morning-after pill drug regimens may cause the death of a living embryo by blocking its attempts to attach inside the uterus.
"Postfertilization Effect of Hormonal Emergency Contraception," by Chris Kahlenborn, MD, Joseph B. Stanford, MD, MSPH, and Walter L. Larimore, MD, will appear in the March 2002 issue of The Annals of Pharmacotherapy, and is now available online at www.theannals.com.
The questions raised by this timely analysis could have an impact on current, controversial efforts to make morning-after pill regimens available over-the-counter nationwide. They also present serious moral and ethical challenges to the use of these drugs in emergency rooms and private medical practice.
Morning-after pill regimens use the same active ingredients found in birth control pills, hormones such as levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol. It has been widely assumed that these ingredients work mainly by preventing ovulation. However, this report describes evidence that the drugs may sometimes fail to prevent ovulation and rely instead on an after-fertilization effect, causing abortion of the newly formed embryonic life.
The article points out that regardless of the personal beliefs of the physician or providers about the mechanism of these drugs, it is important that patients have information relevant to their own beliefs and value systems. Therefore, for women to whom the induced death of an embryonic life is important, failure to discuss the possibility of this loss, even if the possibility is judged to be remote, would be a failure of informed consent.
Kahlenborn and colleagues conclude that based on the data reviewed, an after-fertilization, early-abortion effect of these drugs is probably a more common event than is recognized by most physicians or patients.
The Annals of Pharmacotherapy is the leading peer-reviewed, international journal for physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare practitioners that features articles directly related to pharmacotherapy, the area of pharmacy practice that promotes the safe, effective, and economical use of medications and related devices in patient care. The publisher of The Annals of Pharmacotherapy, Harvey Whitney Books Company, and its editorial offices, are headquartered at 8044 Montgomery Road, Suite 415, Cincinnati, OH 45236, USA. The journal is available online at http://www.theannals.com.
Until now there was no medical journal article outlining its abortifacient effect even when given pre-ovulatory.
It was assumed that if given pre-ovulatory it would suppress ovulation and therefore would not be abortifacient. Thus some Catholic institutions allowed its use pre-ovulatory.
1/24/02
Dear People:
As many of you know, Joe Stanford, Walt Larimore and I, along with the editorial assistance of Dorothy Dugandzic and technical comments of Walt Severs, have published a paper on the morning after pill. Among other things, the paper shows that the morning after pill is indeed an abortifacient. The paper makes some interesting comments on this information and its role in informed consent. It also shows that the whole question about allowing the "rape pill" to be given in Catholic Hospitals (about 1/3 allow it to be given if a woman has not ovulated) needs to be revisited very quickly, for it is likely that Catholic ERs are allowing early abortions to occur in their own facilities without even knowing about it.
The paper also shows that the FDA never conducted a proper randomized prospective trial on the morning after pill, instead relying on old studies. The paper also comments that the accepted "efficacy rate" of the MAP is likely a flawed (over)estimate.
This new information is critical as some in the FDA want to make the MAP over the counter. Instead, it should be taken off the market. Truly, women who are both pro-life or pro-abortion have failed to receive proper informed consent on many of these issues.
Please see www.theannals.com for an update and click the news release about the morning after pill. From there you can access the entire article.
May God be praised.
IHT
Chris Kahlenborn, MD
....Kind of like the old 3 month abort rule - one minute before midnight at the end of the first trimester is legally and morally A-OK. One minute after midnight and you've committed murder.....
Pro-life bump!
Yet they do directly kill the fertilized egg.
Human pesticide?
Gotta work on a name for these things...
Too true.
Thanks for the flag.
I'd like to think the Catholic Hospitals were being bullied by the government and the socialized healthcare system ... I suspect that's not quite true.
patent
Abortion!
I'm not Catholic so could someone answer the following: Why would any Catholic Hospital administer morning after birth control. Our local hospital refuses to allow tubal ligations to be performed there.
Is it because they are treating an alleged rape?
But, remember, the alternative to all these culture of death technologies is self-control. You'll find Americans don't like self-control, especially in the arena of sexual behavior.
Why are Christians considered the most dangerous people in America? Because we dare to say "thou shalt not" on subjects of sexual behavior.
Actually, we are only repeating the wisdom of our G-d - a wisdom that has been proven all to accurate in the lasty 20 years or so.
Shalom.
Thanks for that reminder. Remember, when you're dealing with the pro-death crowd not to talk about the morning after pill possibly terminating a pregnancy. Talk about it possibly killing a child.
Shalom.
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