BC vs Morning after Pill

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-10-2004
BC vs Morning after Pill
3
Wed, 03-15-2006 - 7:25am
My husband does not beleive in abortion and he says he believes that the morning after pill is just like having a abortion because it stops the pregancy. I thought the morning after pill did pretty much the same thing as birth control just maybe a higher dose. I am not currently in need to take the morning after pill just confused on what does it do exactly. Is he right is it like an abortion ? If so couldn't you consider birth control to be similar?

 

iVillage Member
Registered: 07-19-2005
Wed, 03-15-2006 - 9:22am

The birth control pill and the morning after pill contain the same hormones, but the morning after pill has a higher dosage. The pill works primarily by inhibiting ovulation, which it does very effectively. It also thickens cervical mucous, which helps prevent sperm from reaching egg. The pill also causes the lining of the uterus to change and thin. *In theory* this could prevent a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. However, for that to occur, both of the other mechanisms of the pill would have to fail, that is...a woman would have to ovulate, the cervical mucous would have to be thin enough for the sperm to pass through, sex would have to take place within that small fertile window, and the egg would have to be viable enough to live to implantation. To the best of my knowledge, clinical research has not been able to document implantation failure. It remains a theoretical mechanism that is so rare that it may not actually exsist in the real world. Even many typically "pro-life" websites, like Focus on the Family" acknowledge this.

Medically, even if that mechanism occurs, it isn't abortion. A pregnancy is not considered to have begun until the fertilized egg implants in the womb. The morning-after pill (unlike the abortion pill RU486, with which it is sometimes confused) cannot dislodge an established pregnancy. Therefore, it is not an abortion.

Some people consider life to begin at conception. That is a valid faith belief. For such people, any drug that has the potential to prevent a fertilized egg from implanting can be the *moral equivalent* to abortion, and even a very miniscule risk is unacceptable. Other women believe the risk is so minimal that taking the pill is not a moral problem. Only you can decide what you believe on that. I would just encourage you to make this decision *with* your husband, don;t let yourself be bullied or frightened into it. And, if you want more information, seek it from reputable medical and scientific sources, not "prolife" websites, which have a vested interest in biasing information.

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-30-2003
Wed, 03-15-2006 - 10:45am

I totally agree!

What a great post! Well said bagpipe_mouse!

      Jill

    

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-19-2003
Thu, 03-16-2006 - 6:14am

I agree--great post!


Bottom line...emergency contraception prevents pregnancy by the same mechanisms as the birth control pill, theoretically.

Judie Cl for Birth Control