As a primer to tackling the Big A I wanted to take a brief look at the "Morning After Pill"...
I think that it is important that I be honest about my experiences when discussing all these topics because I am a real person and it is my experiential reality which shapes my world view. So I will be perfectly candid and tell you that I have personally used the MAP ... actually I have used it 3 times.
The first time I was around 17 and I had some very inadvisable sex with an extremely inadvisable "man" and I was too stupid to insist he wear a condom. Yeah I wanted him to like me. I paid for that error in judgment. I spent a very pleasant 16 hours on the cold bathroom floor throwing my ever lovin' guts up. I also swore I would never have unprotected sex again...yeah right.
and so...
The next time I was 20 and living in England. I was in love, engaged and totally fucked up. It would have been a disaster to get pregnant/be a parent at that time of my life. We went to "casualty" and got the pills. I did not get sick that time. Sadly however what I did not know at that time was that I was already 8 weeks pregnant. The combination of the MAP and the recreational drugs and party lifestyle that we were living lead to a miscarriage not long after. It was a hard time for all of us and I still struggle with the results of my actions however I stand by the fact that I was not ready to be a parent at that time.
The last time was different. The last time is hard to talk about. The last time I don't recall being given a choice but I would have taken it either way. The last time I was raped. The MAP was just a few more pills in a veritable cocktail of meds they handed me in the emergency room along with what I can only guess where some high dose antibiotics and perhaps a sedative and/ or pain killer. I don't remember feeling sick. I don't remember feeling anything at all for a long time.
From this safe vantage point in my life eleven years later I know that if the MAP was not an option made available for me, I might not have made it through that ordeal alive; if I would have had to worry about a possible pregnancy on top of everything else I might have killed myself.
So as you see I am unable to talk about the subject and be completely objective and I know that but I will try and be as fair as possible.
Let's look at this from a medical perspective.
The Hypocratic Oath says "...Similarly I will not give to a woman an abortive remedy..." (which I assure you I will get back to when I discuss abortion!)
and Miriam-Webster say an abortion is "the termination of a pregnancy after, accompanied by, resulting in, or closely followed by the death of the embryo or fetus"
So if my logic follows in order for there to be an ABORTION there has to be an embryo or fetus. How does this jive with what we know about the morning after pill?
The pills themselves are basically a higher dose of the same hormones found in regular oral contraceptive pills (The Pill).
According to every source I can find, the emergency contraception pill is good for only up to 72 hours post sexual encounter.However the earlier you take it, the better: the morning-after pill works best if taken within 24 hours of unprotected sex. However it is effective up until 72 hours. Three days. What happens in those three days? Well lets just assume for the arguments sake that at the at the time of said sex you have actually ovulated. (which I would like to add is not as easy to time as you might think)
If intercourse is timed correctly then between 100 and 300 million sperm may be awaiting the appearance of the solitary ovum. Some sperm are probably lost, heading in the wrong direction or up the wrong the fallopian tube, and other sperm may be neutralized by the immunity-function of white blood cells. I know this sounds some kind of freaking science fiction, doesn't it! The fact is, of the millions of sperm that navigate their way from the vagina to the fallopian tube, only several hundred of the healthiest will get the opportunity to meet the egg.
At this key junction, the question remains: Will the ovum get fertilized? Let's see what can happen.... The sperm will typically meet the egg in the lower quadrant of a fallopian tube and start to swarm around the egg. The ovum is covered by a protective field known as the zona pellucida, and in order for fertilization to take place, sperm cells must find a keyhole (or receptor) to unlock the zona pellucida, gain entrance, and burrow their way to the oocyte, the genetic core of the ovum. Only one sperm will connect with the oocyte, precipitating genetic combination - signaling that fertilization has just taken place. With fertilization, the ovum becomes the zygote or embryo and now passes through complex phases of cell division and differentiation. BadaBing! You have just conceived!
How long does this take? Here is the major question as it pertains to the MAP. Nothing I have found has said it take "36, 48, 73 hours" for the sperm with the Golden Ticket to unlock the gate, gain entrance, and burrow its way into the warm gooey comfy spot that is the oocyte.
The prospective of most Pro-Life movements (which I promise I will look at more closely in future) is that life beings at when this Spermy, Eggy meeting happens. The very very moment. The Medical community, for the most part has a different perspective. Prior to implantation the the combined spermy/eggy is in a sort of free floating phase. In order for pregnancy to actually occur the Zygot must successfully implant in the endometrial lining. Implantation typically takes place several days and up to a week following ovulation.
"Several days to a week" ... that is is pretty vague to me. I could not find a statistic on how long the average woman waits before getting the pills, how many women use it within the first 24 hours, which we have already been told it is the most effective, or how many women wait a few hours after they have them to make sure they want to do it. All the little things may be a contributing factor.
So here is what I think. I morning after pill, if taken properly as it is intended, is not an "abortion pill', it does not terminate a pregnancy, it prevents one from taking place. It temporarily stops the release of an egg from the ovary, it prevents fertilization and/or it prevents a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus. I don't think that this pill should be used as a primary form of birth control, I think that people, my self included you take responsibility for birth control prior to engaging in sexual behavior however... shit happens and I think that this is a viable, acceptable plan B.
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