Contraception

Arizona Right to Life does not take a position on the morality of non-abortifacient contraception. We oppose the use of medications that cause abortions as either a primary or secondary effect.

The following medications are marketed as contraception, but are proven methods of intentional chemical abortion. Arizona Right to Life opposes their distribution and consumption. As new drugs appear on the market regularly, this list may not be complete at the time of your reading. If you have questions or concerns about a specific drug, please contact us.

RU-486- aka Mifegyne or Mifeprex (Briefing courtesy of National Right to Life)
While many people focus solely on RU 486, the so-called ” French abortion pill,” the RU 486 technique actually uses two powerful synthetic hormones with the generic names of mifepristone and misoprostol [17] to chemically induce abortions in women five-to-nine weeks pregnant.[18]

The RU 486 procedure requires at least three trips to the abortion facility.[19] In the first visit, the woman is given a physical exam, and if she has no obvious contra-indications (“red flags” such as smoking, asthma, high blood pressure, obesity, etc., that could make the drug deadly to her[20] ), she swallows the RU 486 pills. RU 486 blocks the action of progesterone, the natural hormone vital to maintaining the rich nutrient lining of the uterus. The developing baby starves as the nutrient lining disintegrates.[21]

At a second visit 36 to 48 hours later, the woman is given a dose of artificial prostaglandins, usually misoprostol, which initiates uterine contractions and usually causes the embryonic baby to be expelled from the uterus. [22] Most women abort during the 4-hour waiting period at the clinic, but about 30% abort later at home, work, etc., [23] as many as 5 days later.[24] A third visit about 2 weeks later determines whether the abortion has occurred or a surgical abortion is necessary to complete the procedure (5 to 10% of all cases).[25]

There are several serious well documented side effects associated with RU 486/prostaglandin abortions, including prolonged (up to 44 days) [26] and severe bleeding,[27] nausea, vomiting, [28] pain, [29] and even death. At least one woman in France died while others there suffered life-threatening heart attacks from the technique. [30] In U.S. trials conducted in 1995, one woman is known to have nearly died after losing half her blood and requiring emergency surgery. [31]

Long term effects of the drug have not yet been sufficiently studied, but there are reasons to believe that RU 486 could affect not only a woman’s current pregnancy, but her future pregnancies as well, potentially inducing miscarriages or causing severe malformations in later children. [32]

Methotrexate: (Briefing courtesy of National Right to Life)

The procedure with methotrexate is similar to the one using RU 486, though administered by an intramuscular injection instead of a pill. [33]

Originally designed to attack fast growing cells such as cancers by neutralizing the B vitamin folic acid necessary for cell division, methotrexate apparently attacks the fast growing cells of the trophoblast as well,[34] the tissue surronding the embryo that eventually gives rise to the placenta. The trophoblast not only functions as the “life support system” for the developing child, [35] drawing oxygen and nutrients from the mother’s blood supply and disposing of carbon dioxide and waste products, [36] but also produces the hCG (human chorionic gonadotropin) hormone which signals the corpus luteum to continue the production of progesterone necessary to prevent breakdown of the uterine lining and loss of the pregnancy. [37] Methotrexate initiaties the disintengration of that sustaining, protective, and nourishing environment. Deprived of the food, oxygen, and fluids he or she needs to survive, the baby dies.

Three to seven days later (depending on the protocol used), a suppository of misoprostol (the same prostaglandin used with RU 486) is inserted into a woman’s vagina to trigger expulsion of the tiny body of the child from the woman’s uterus. Sometimes this occurs within the next few hours, but often a second dose of the prostaglandin is required, making the time lapse between the initial administration of methotrexate and the actual completion of the abortion as long as several weeks. [38] A woman may bleed for weeks (42 days in one study[39] ), even heavily, [40] and may abort anywhere — at home, on the bus, at work, etc. [41] Those found to be still pregnant in later visits (at least 1 in 25) are given surgical abortions. [42]

Even doctors who support abortion are reluctant to prescribe methotrexate for abortion because of its high toxicity and unpredictable side effects. [43] Those side effects commonly include nausea, pain, diarrhea, [44] as well as less visible but more serious effects such as bone marrow depression, severe anemia, liver damage and methotrexate-induced lung disease. [45]

The manufacturer warns in the package insert that while methotrexate has shown itself useful in treating certain types of cancer and severe cases of arthritis and psoriasis, “deaths have been reported with the use of methotrexate,” and recommends that its use be limited to “physicians whose knowledge and experience includes the use of antimetabolite therapy.” [46] Though researchers performing methotrexate abortions have dismissed such concerns because of the low dosage used, [47] other doctors in the abortion trade have disagreed, [48] and the package insert clearly warns that “toxic effects may be related in frequency and severity to dose or frequency of administration but have been seen at all doses” (emphasis added). [49]

“Morning After Pill” (Plan B and Preven) Mifegyne and Mifeprex (Briefing from American Life League)

The emergency contraceptive/morning-after pill has three modes of action (as does the regular birth control pill); that is, it can work in one of three ways:

1. The normal menstrual cycle is altered, delaying ovulation; or

2. Ovulation is inhibited, meaning the egg will not be released from the ovary;

3. It can irritate the lining of the uterus (endometrium) so as to inhibit implantation.
Keep in mind that fertilization occurs in the fallopian tube and that fertilization marks the beginning of a new human life – and the beginning of the pregnancy. The newly created child then travels down the fallopian tube to the uterus where he or she implants. Implantation is necessary for the new child to receive nourishment from the mother and continue developing. The journey from the fallopian tube to the womb takes between five and seven days during which pregnancy cannot be readily detected.

Therefore, if a woman ingests emergency contraception after fertilization has taken place, the third mode of action can occur. The lining of the uterus can be altered causing the woman’s body to reject the living human embryo, making implantation impossible and the child will die. This result is called a chemical abortion; therefore emergency contraception is an abortifacient.
Two of the most commonly used emergency contraceptive pills are Preven and Plan B. The websites for both of these drugs clearly indicate that each can work to prevent a “fertilized egg” (which is actually a newly formed human being) from implanting in the uterine wall:

“How do the PREVEN® emergency contraceptive pills prevent pregnancy?

PREVEN® can stop or delay ovulation (the release of an egg), it can stop sperm from fertilizing an egg if it was already released, and it can stop a fertilized egg from attaching to the wall of the uterus.”

Source: http://www.drugs.com/mtm/preven-ec.html

“How Does Plan B® Work?

Plan B® (levonorgestrel) may prevent pregnancy by temporarily stopping the release of an egg from a woman’s ovary, or it may prevent fertilization. It may also prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus. ”

Source: http://www.go2planb.com/ForConsumers/AboutPlanB/HowItWorks.aspx
Proponents of “emergency contraception,” as well as the Preven and Plan B websites, contend that emergency contraception does not cause abortion. They argue that emergency contraception prevents pregnancy and thereby reduces the need for induced abortion. However, they intentionally define the term “pregnancy” as implantation of a fertilized egg in the lining of a woman’s uterus, as opposed to “pregnancy” beginning at fertilization.
Whether one understands pregnancy as beginning at “implantation” or “fertilization,” the heart of the matter is when human life begins. It is important to keep in mind that scientists have confirmed that at the moment the sperm and the egg join (fertilization), a new human being is created who is completely different from his/her mother.

This is not a subjective opinion, but an objective scientific fact. Accordingly, any artificial action that works to destroy a fertilized egg (human embryo) is abortifacient in nature.

The common description of the MAP as emergency “contraception” fails to accurately describe its possible abortifacient action and is misleading the public. The confusion is aggravated by attempts to re-define pregnancy as occurring after implantation. Potential users of MAP are not told that this drug may abort an established pregnancy.