Some forms of birth control stop fertilization.
Some forms stop the implantation of a newly fertilized egg.
Some forms expel an implanted fertilized egg.
The distinctions are becoming important as a legal and practical matter.
I am not a doctor and I have never experienced menstruation. I write a political blog, not a medical one. I have "done my research" in the way a hundred million Americans did their research about COVID vaccinations. That means I consulted sources that seem credible to me. The graphics below come from Scientific American, which has an explanation I could follow. Their information was consistent with other sources I consider credible, like those from Planned Parenthood. Here is a link.
Everyone old enough to read this blog knows the basic facts. Barriers like condoms and diaphragms stop sperm from meeting egg: No fertilization means no pregnancy. Hormonal birth control stop ovulation: No egg means no fertilization means no pregnancy. It gets complicated with IUDs because depending on the material in the IUD it may stop implantation of a fertilized egg. However, if the IUD is made of copper, it may mostly work by killing sperm and therefore stopping fertilization, although it also stops implantation of a fertilized egg if the copper didn't kill all the sperm. Some states may allow copper IUDs but outlaw ones made of other material.
There is also an over-the-counter drug called "Emergency Contraception" or "Plan B." This does not cause an abortion although it is sometimes confused for doing so. The name implies that it is a problem pregnancy. No. It is used after contraceptive failure. The drug stops ovulation for that month. No ovulation, no fertilization, no pregnancy.
Some ways of stopping pregnancy openly acknowledge that a pregnancy is being stopped and an implanted fertilized egg is to be expelled. This is the "Medical Abortion" protocol. In 2016 the FDA approved a two-drug combination of Mifeprex and Cytotec to be taken within seven weeks from the start of a woman's last period. Mifeprex (also called RU-486 or mifepristone) can work on its own, but the two-drug combination is shown to be about 99.6% effective in large trials.
Medical abortions are at risk of being banned in states that define abortion as acts that stop the natural development of a fertilized egg. Oklahoma's governor is preparing to sign a bill banning all abortions after fertilization. It uses a Texas-style enforcement mechanism through private lawsuits, and therefore does not need to wait for the Supreme Court to overrule Roe v. Wade. Oklahoma's law may become the pattern. It makes the distinction between "Plan B" emergency contraception pill and the "medical abortion" pills. Plan B is allowed. Medical abortions are not. Plan B stops ovulation. Medical abortions expel an embryo.
Who needs to know this stuff? Voters do. These distinctions will be at the center of the national debate over abortion.
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9 comments:
The Republicans want to stop all abortions but refuse to pay for formula so the kid can eat after it’s born. Why am I not surprised?
Sometimes I feel like all Republicans are just plain evil.
Good to know.
However...all things considered isn't it more logical to focus on a form of contraception for MEN? Preferably non-surgical. The "after" pill is sort of like that, but wouldn't it be smarter if guys had a "before" pill?
It seems to me that placing the burden on women to take these drugs, and frankly the responsibility for contraception, notwithstanding their right to control their own bodies, is sexist.
Science fiction predicts a future where sex for pleasure and sex for reproduction are completely separate, unlike now where the two are intertwined in a confusing mix of emotions, impulses and misogynistic attitudes, not the least of which is the mythology of virility.
The basis for outlawing the removal of a fertilized egg is the belief that life begins at conception. But what does that even mean? Zygotes are about as similar to a human being as an acorn is to an oak tree. Which raises an interesting question: If life begins at conception, what do these politician/priests propose fertility clinics do with all the frozen embryos that aren’t being implanted?
I would welcome male contraception as what we ladies call back-up contraception (secondary contraception). The reason is that women are the ones who can get pregnant if the guy lies (shock) or he is not VERY diligent and responsible. I would not feel comfortable relying on the man. Not at all.
It is insane that anyone thinks a fertilized egg has more "rights" than a born female of child-bearing age. We would not even be having this discussion if men were the ones getting pregnant.
The Republican Party should change their name to what they actually are: The American Taliban.
When I was younger (okay, much younger, pre-pill-pre-abortion), some girls didn’t seem to care how careful I was one way or another. Those were the girls that scared me. Easy way to get a husband, I guess. I made sure I was VERY careful with those types.
A male contraceptive pill is fundamentally more difficult because sperm production is a continuous process of cellular division. The female cycle, on the other hand, is a once a month phenomenon that is easier to interrupt without disturbing more fundamental biological processes.
The Republican obsession with keeping women subservient is bizarre enough, but there’s something even more disturbing about this law: The state is giving citizens an incentive to spy on each other. This is how dictatorships are born. We need to abort it.
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