Plan B's Manufacturer: Pills Can Be Abortifacient

Dianne N. Irving
Copyright April 27, 2013
Reproduced with Permission

It is frankly mind-blowing that there is even a question about whether or not the "emergency contraceptive" Plan B can be abortifacient. Does no one read the manufacturer's own website? Here it is, on Barr Pharmaceutical's own website:

http://www.planbonestep.com/faqs.aspx

PlanBOneStep.com
as of April 27, 2013

How does Plan B One-Step® work?
Plan B One-Step® is one pill that has a higher dose of levonorgestrel, a hormone found in many birth control pills that healthcare professionals have been prescribing for several decades. Plan B One-Step® works in a similar way to help prevent pregnancy from happening. It works mainly by stopping the release of an egg from the ovary. It is possible that Plan B One-Step® may also work by preventing fertilization of an egg (the uniting of the sperm with the egg) or by preventing attachment (implantation) to the uterus (womb).

If THEY don't know, then nobody knows. Thus why aren't these known, admitted scientific facts by the very manufacturer of Plan B used as the basis for determining if Plan B is possibly abortifacient or not? As they themselves state, sometimes IT IS abortificient, because it can "prevent attachment (implantation) to the uterus (womb)". Did anybody look it up?

I don't know how much clearer this could be, yet consider the rounds and rounds and rounds of "opinions", confusion, and DOUBTS currently being fostered; just for example:

THERE IS NO DOUBT. These facts should be the starting point for any ethical or theological analyses as to whether or not Plan B can be abortifacient. Whoever gave the German prelates and the PAV the false pseudo-scientific facts needs to publicly admit the truth and stop this nonsense.

What I also find fascinating is that the only mechanism of Plan B and similar pills involves altering the lining of the uterus. But what about the chemical mechanisms in these pills that effect the embryo? The embryo has to be at the proper developmental stage before he/she can implant in the uterus. If the embryo is chemically slowed down or speeded up by chemicals as he/she travels through the woman's fallopian tube to the uterus for implantation, then the embryo dies. Isn't that causing an abortion, too? Of course it is. I have tried to post the following on the National Catholic Register website re this issue:

Dr. Dianne N. Irving, M.A., Ph.D.:

Imagine the number of women who are "irregular" with their periods! If "break-through" ovulation occurs (which happens), and then if fertilization occurs (which happens), then an embryo is produced. It is not only effects of Plan B on the lining of the UTERUS that must be addressed, but also other chemical mechanisms built into Plan B as well that effect the EMBRYO. Such include chemicals that slow down the embryo as he/she travels through the fallopian tube to the uterus (the embryo is not developed enough to implant); some speed up the embryo (the embryo is over-developed to implant), etc. So regardless if the lining of the uterus is not altered (although it is), there are other ways these pills can be abortifacient. Yes, as mentioned, makers of Plan B THEMSELVES admit that the lining of the uterus is altered to prevent the embryo from implanting. These objective facts must be the starting point for any ethics or theology. http://www.ncregister.com/daily-news/do-emergency-contraceptive-medications-cause-early-abortions

Finally, what comes across in "arguments" on both sides is shades of the old "pre-embryo substitute" false science that so many have bought into. They want to believe that there is no embryo present until after implantation. But there is. They want to believe that "pregnancy" only begins at implantation. But it doesn't. The same ole games are being played. For a more extensive explanation, see Irving, "Contraceptive" and "Morning After" Pills: Women and Young Girls, You're On Your Own" (April 5, 2013), at: http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_210asecret.html. For my requested testimony on Plan B and other "contraceptives", see: "Testimony Submitted to FDA Re Change of MAP to OTC Status" (Nov. 19, 2004), at: http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_85newdrug.html; also, "Abortifacients and the Role of Correct Science in Counseling, the Formation of Conscience, and Moral Decision Making" (April 12, 2009), at: http://www.lifeissues.net/writers/irv/irv_140correctscience1.html.

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