More in O.C. using 'morning-after' pill
HEALTH: Use grows 110% locally last year vs. 80% nationwide.
March 2, 2001
By WILLIAM HEISEL
The Orange County Register
Women in Orange County are taking the "morning-after pill" in record numbers to
prevent pregnancy.
Planned Parenthood in Orange County, the top provider of morning-after pills,
distributed 110 percent more of them in 2000 than in 1999 -- 3,325 pill packets
total -- while nationally, Planned Parenthood has seen about an 80 percent annual
increase on average in the past few years.
The pills - in essence high doses of standard birth-control pills - have been around
for a quarter-century, but only since the Food and Drug Administration declared
them safe in 1997 have they been used widely.
They can be taken at home with a doctor's prescription, unlike mifepristone, or
RU-486, which the FDA approved last year. That drug requires a doctor to
administer it and actually dislodges the fertilized egg from the uterus. It can be used
up to seven weeks after pregnancy.
Morning-after pills such as Preven and Plan B can be used up to 72 hours after sex.
If a woman is already pregnant, the pills will not abort or damage the embryo.
Nationally, emergency contraception use has been rising, but it remains rare.
A survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation last year found that most physicians
had prescribed the pills fewer than five times in the past 12 months. And the
country's biggest retailer, Wal-Mart, won't carry them.
Now the American Medical Association and birth-control advocates like Planned
Parenthood are asking the FDA to approve the pills for over-the- counter sales.
If that happens, the local Planned Parenthood predicts the number of abortions
could be nearly halved. Last year, it performed 4,919 abortions in the county.
Overall, it provided services to about 29,000 women, three-fourths of whom were in
their teens and 20s.
"With a lot of unintended pregnancies, women know right away that they've had
unprotected intercourse," said Planned Parenthood spokeswoman Kim Custer.
"This way, they can make a decision quickly about what they want to do, and it
doesn't have to be an abortion."
Nearly 90 percent of the abortions at Orange County Planned Parenthood clinics
were performed in the first three months of pregnancy in 2000, leading Custer and
others to believe those same women probably would rather not become pregnant at
all.
Many opponents of abortion, though, also oppose the pills, saying in some cases
they cause abortion because they prevent the fertilized egg from implanting in the
wall of the uterus. Groups such as the American Life League say birth-control
advocates downplay side effects such as nausea and blood clotting.
The pills also can prevent pregnancy by stopping the egg and sperm from ever
connecting. How they work depends on where a woman is in her ovulation cycle.
But groups like Catholics for a Free Choice say both sides should encourage women
to use emergency contraception.
"If one believes abortion is a grave moral evil, then supporting a contraception like
this just makes sense," said Frances Kissling, the group's president. |
