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EC ‘Safer Than Aspirin’ ?  Not So, Says Mosher

Proponents of  “emergency contraception” claim that  it’s “safer than aspirin” (Reproductive Health Technologies Project press release, Feb. 14, 2001).  The following are excerpts from an in-depth report on EC by Steven Mosher, president of Population Research Institute.

The makers and promoters of “emergency contraception” see vast profits from teen consumers if over-the-counter approval is given by the FDA.

The promotion of EC to adolescents has involved dangerous trials, which have exposed the teen subjects involved to serious health risks.

OTC/EC approval would expose the entire adolescent population to these same risks, which have been ignored by its promoters.

The applicant for FDA approval of OTC/EC, Women’s Capital Corporation/Barr Laboratories, has funded several studies intended to test Plan B on adolescent girls 14 to 16 years of age.

These young teenage girls, in the name of this science, had engaged in “unprotected sexual intercourse.”

These studies were conducted without consideration of relevant health risks to adolescents, such as irregular menstrual cycles, despite recognition of the hormonal and physiological immaturity of teenaged girls.

Also absent were proper supervision and counseling, parental consent or notification, assurances that the teens studied had not been sexually violated, and assurances that teens took EC within a prescribed time period.

Serious health risks

To gauge the level of risk that EC poses to teens, one need only consider the damage caused by Norplant.

This progestin-only hormonal contraceptive--the same active ingredient as Plan B--is no longer available for use in America because it is so dangerous.

Known risks include significant weight gain, depression, ovarian cyst enlargement, gallbladder disease, high blood pressure and respiratory disorders.

Among teenagers, some of these common side effects could result in increased rates of bulimia, anorexia, or clinical depression.

Also, an increased risk of ectopic pregnancy has been associated with use of Plan B-type EC.  

Abdominal pain is also a common side effect of Plan B.  Since OTC/EC precludes parental involvement, it is likely that teenage girls who buy Plan B at the drugstore, then experience abdominal pain, may not confide in parents so that a physician could diagnose if a life-threatening ectopic pregnancy had occurred.

OTC/EC approval would mean that young people would be free to purchase and use (abuse) this powerful hormone without supervision or follow-up.

Increase in STDs

Adolescents aged 15-19 currently represent 46 percent of all cases of chlamydia in the U.S.  Moreover, 1 in 4 sexually active teenagers contract an STD at some point.

Since EC/OTC is marketed to those who engage in “unprotected sex,” and since this manner of dispensing the drug precludes proper counseling for teens, OTC/EC will cause a dramatic increase in rates of sexually transmitted diseases.

In Washington State and in Sweden, where EC has been made widely available, rates of STD infection have been skyrocketing since EC was introduced.

Increase in sexual violence

At an FDA advisory committee meeting in support of the Plan B/OTC application, Vivian Dickerson, MD, president-elect, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), promoted EC as a response to sexual violence committed against teens.

Dickerson claimed that adolescents should have access to OTC/EC because they, “in particular, [do not] have control over the occurrence of intercourse or the use of contraception.

“Examples of such cases are rape, date rape, partner pressure, or other socio-cultural pressures to engage in sex without contraception.”

ACOG apparently believes that sexually assaulted teenage girls should just pick up a pill at the drugstore.

Most parents of a girl who has been  raped believe their daughter deserves much more:  counseling, testing for  STDs, a police report, and preservation of forensic evidence to incarcerate the rapist.

In fact, the easy availability of OTC/EC will make it more difficult for teenage girls to resist pressure to have sex, and will trivialize the act of rape.

Increase in teen pregnancy

Studies have shown that increased rates of pregnancy occur among teens with increased use of EC.

The London Daily Mail reported on December 1, 2003, that a controversial sex education program involving the supplying of teens with condoms at school and the “morning-after pill” at clinics was branded a failure after figures showed a 10 percent rise in teenage pregnancy rates.

A study reported in the British Medical Journal (August 19, 2000) showed that teenagers whose pregnancies ended in induced abortion were more likely to have used EC before conception, and that teens who use EC were more willing to engage in “risk-taking” behavior.

For the sake of the health and well-being of adolescents, the FDA should not approve over-the-counter “emergency contraception.”