What’s in the News?
In May 2009, the Food and Drug Administration agreed to allow 17-year-olds to have access to the morning-after emergency contraception pill without a prescription.
Background on the Morning-After Pill:
The morning-after pill, Levonorgestrel, also known as Preven or PlanB®, has been available to adults since the mid-1980s in some countries and the late-1990s in America. The drug is used based on the theory that if a woman has unprotected sex or if the contraception fails, she can take a large dose of a contraceptive drug to prevent becoming pregnant. (The morning-after pill is not the same as RU-486, which is used within seven to nine weeks of pregnancy.)
Previously, the FDA refused to make the pills available to anyone over the counter, insisting they be obtained with a prescription from a doctor. Such requirements could cause such pills to be ineffective as they must be taken within 72 hours of intercourse. The pills, two taken in succession, are most effective when taken within 24 hours of sexual intercourse.
The FDA will not appeal a federal judge’s ruling that the age at which the pills can be obtained must be lowered by another year. Yet to be determined is the FDA’s response to the judge’s second order that age restrictions be removed entirely.
How the Morning-After Pill Works:
1.) The normal menstrual cycle is altered, delaying ovulation.
2.) Ovulation in inhibited. That is, the egg will not be released from the ovary.
3.) The uterus lining (endometrium) can be irritated so as to prevent implantation. (In this case, the morning-after pill is considered an abortifacient as a potential pregnancy results in what is known as a “chemical abortion.”)
Because fertilization takes place in the fallopian tube and pregnancy cannot be readily detected until five to seven days later when the embryo actually is implanted, where it can begin receiving nourishment and continue developing, the “emergency” is the woman’s fear of becoming pregnant.
Questions for Group Discussion:
The decision to make this pill available to younger teens raises many questions. Here are some you can discuss with your group. Because of the sensitive nature of the issues discussed, you may need to have teens write down answers in private.
Maturity — Are teenagers mature enough to handle the reality of the decision to acquire and make use of these pills?
Do you know someone who has made use of these pills?
Do you know someone who wishes they had access to them?
Morality — This drug raises questions about conception and birth. What do you think: Does conception begin at fertilization or implantation?
At what point does human life begin?
What are the moral issues and implications involved on the part of youth?
Their parents?
Our government?
Society at large?
Can use of this option be equated with the planned procedure of abortion?
Is this even a topic our federal government should be legislating?
After the fact — Once a female opts to use the morning-after pill, what then?
It could be argued she’s likely never to know whether she could have become pregnant. So, what happens if she regrets her decision to use this drug?
Should there be options in place for counseling?
What Does Scripture Say?
