LIFE DIGEST: FDA OKs generic ‘morning-after’ pill
- Sep 8, 2009
Another “morning-after” pill with abortion-causing qualities will soon be for sale in stores.
Watson Laboratories received approval Aug. 28 from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to market a generic version of Plan B, a post-intercourse “emergency contraceptive,” as it is commonly known, that can cause an abortion.
Also in this edition: Pro-life women target 12 in Congress and Planned Parenthood of Indiana closes 5 centers.
The new generic drug will be marketed under the name Next Choice. Like Plan B, it will be available for purchase without a prescription for women 17 years of age and older and for prescription use by girls younger than 17.
Next Choice works, like Plan B, to restrict ovulation in a female. It also can act after conception to block implantation of a tiny embryo in the uterine wall, thereby causing an abortion.
The drug regimen for the “morning-after” pill is basically a heavier dose of birth control pills. Under the regimen, a woman takes two pills within 72 hours of sexual intercourse and another dose 12 hours later.
Plan B, which is produced by the Duramed division of Barr Pharmaceuticals, had American sales of $135 million in the 12-month period ending June 30.
When the FDA approved the non-prescription use of Plan B in 2006, Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission President Richard Land described it as a “sad day for America.”
“Allowing drugs with such powerful physiological and emotional effects to be sold over the counter to adults without a prescription will have significant consequences, none of them good,” Land said.
“It will certainly result in the pharmacological, spontaneous abortion of large numbers of babies, who will be conceived but known only to God. . . . This decision will lead to increased rates of sexual activity for younger women outside of wedlock, resulting in physical, emotional and spiritual consequences, including increased rates of sexually transmitted diseases, against which Plan B offers no protection,” he said.
Pro-life women target 12 in Congress
The pro-life Susan B. Anthony List has targeted 12 members of Congress up for re-election in 2010 who it says are out of step with their constituents.
The organization’s effort will include the use of television and radio ads, as well as telephone conferences and online campaigns, to inform citizens of the voting records of their senators and representatives. The campaign especially will address the congressional members’ votes on funding of abortion.
The “Votes Have Consequences” project will seek to educate citizens in the states or congressional districts of the following Democrats: Sens. Michael Bennett of Colorado, Blanche Lincoln of Arkansas and Harry Reid of Nevada, as well as Reps. Alan Grayson of Florida, Debbie Halvorson of Illinois, Suzanne Kosmas of Florida, Frank Kratovil of Maryland, Walk Minnick of Idaho, Glenn Nye of Virginia, Tom Perriello of Virginia, Carol Shea-Porter of New Hampshire and Harry Teague of New Mexico.
The effort “will shine the light of the truth on legislators who favor government-backed abortion in health care reform. You can’t get further out of sync with the majority of America than by advancing abortion-on-demand with taxpayer dollars,” Susan B. Anthony List President Marjorie Dannenfelser said in a Sept. 2 written release.
Planned Parenthood of Indiana closes 5 centers
Planned Parenthood of Indiana will shut down five of its clinics in the central part of the state.
Centers in Anderson, Franklin, Kokomo, Shelbyville and Indianapolis will close during the next six months, the Associated Press reported Sept. 6. None of the clinics provides abortions, according to AP.
The clinics will close because Planned Parenthood expects to lose some of its federal funding, AP reported.
In December, employees at clinics in Bloomington and Indianapolis lost their jobs after being shown on undercover video tape trying to cover up alleged child sexual abuse. An employee in each clinic was shown on the video telling a girl who identified herself as a 13 year old impregnated by a 31-year-old man that she would not file a report. Such a report is required by state law. Each employee also told the girl she could get an abortion in another state in order to avoid Indiana’s parental consent law.
The Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) is the country’s leading abortion provider. Its affiliates performed more than 305,000 abortions in 2007, the most recent year for which statistics are available. PPFA received more than $349 million in government grants and contracts during the financial year of July 2007 to June 2008. The organization’s total revenue was $1.04 billion during that time period.
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Further Learning
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