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piesore |
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Tuesday, August 3, 2004 at 7:09 PM Drews said it's about in the range of 75-90 percent effective depending upon when one uses it. My question is, how is this caculated, does anyone know?
Is it that 90 percent of women who take the pill after sex don't get pregnant, or 90 percent of women who WOULD have gotten pregnant after sex did not due to taking the pill. Because the female is only fertile for part of the month, I was curious if the percentages take this into account.
B/c I was looking into this, and typing in it on google, I got a bunch on anti-birth control literature, basically outlining all the points Drew has debunked. One of the points mentioned was it can affect implantation of the egg in the womb from the ovaries, after it's been fertilized, thus technically causing an abortion. I can't remember if Drew talked about how it affected this, or if it affected the sperms ability to enter egg at all. I remember he said it was theoretical, and was no more likely to cause it than regular birth control, as well as a few other medicines, does anyone know which ones he mentioned?
I know the main jist of it, it fools the body into thinking it's pregnant so no ovulation occurs, but even after all these years listening, I realized I've never listend closely enough to hammer out the rest of those details. Could someone let me know what he's said, as well as some comprehensive, and prefferably easy to understand documentation on the subject. —piesore |
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snuffy |
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Tuesday, August 3, 2004 at 8:11 PM I think the other medications that have the same risk of preventing implantation are certain analgesics (aspirin? advil?) and antihistamines. The risk is very small, apparently. The point is, if these rightwing wackos are opposed to emergency contraception on those grounds, then they should be demonstrating against the sale of aspirin and decongestants, too. Of course, as Adam pointed out, these people just don't want you having pre-marital sex without consequences. They'd probably ban penicillin, too, if they thought it would scare you away from banging that cute girl at the end of the bar. —snuffy |
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Masteel |
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Tuesday, August 3, 2004 at 8:14 PM Comprehensive and documented? I'm not that motivated right now. However, when I was in college, I remember going round and round about this point with a professor in my Human Sexuality class. She said it simply wasn't known/clear whether or not the emergency contraception prevented implantation of the egg by the sperm, or actually affected the implanted egg (thereby, as you stated, technically causing an abortion). And, like you, I remember that Drew ALWAYS said that it prevented implantation. A little bit after that, though I heard him also say something along the lines like "it may have a very small chance of messing with the implanted egg" or something like that. I went back and forth with this with my professor, email after email, because I was just thinking of all those religious freaks in my class that were now not going to use emergency contraceptive because they thought it was analagous to having an abortion. The last I heard, it still isn't completely known. You'd have to consult some medical journals with some original research to find that stuff out. As to your question about the effectiveness, that's a good question. I can't really remember. It seems like it had to do with an actual pregnancy occuring after the use of the emergency contraceptive. I do remember quite clearly though, that the effectiveness of birth control over a long period of time is not that great, not because it isn't 98% effective, but because that 2% over a long period of time will bite you in the ass. Please, no statistics arguments from anyone, I haven't dusted off my statistics books in a long time, and I don't want to now either. This was stated in the class, and I have no reason not to believe it. —Masteel |
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Proc |
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Tuesday, August 3, 2004 at 10:02 PM
Edited Tuesday, August 3, 2004 at 10:03 PM From Not-2-Late.com How Do Emergency Contraceptives Work? Depending on the time during the menstrual cycle that they are taken, ECPs may inhibit or delay ovulation, inhibit tubal transport of the egg or sperm, interfere with fertilization, or alter the endometrium (the lining of the uterus), thereby inhibiting implantation of a fertilized egg. The copper in copper-T IUDs can prevent sperm from fertilizing an egg and can also alter the endometrium, thereby inhibiting implantation of a fertilized egg. Does Use of Emergency Contraception Cause an Abortion? No, use of emergency contraception does not cause an abortion. In fact, emergency contraception prevents pregnancy and thereby reduces the need for induced abortion. Medical authorities such as the United States Food and Drug Administration/National Institutes of Health and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists define the beginning of pregnancy as the implantation of a fertilized egg in the lining of a woman's uterus. Implantation begins five to seven days after fertilization (and is completed several days later). Emergency contraceptives work before implantation and not after a woman is already pregnant. Depending on the time during the menstrual cycle that they are taken, ECPs may inhibit or delay ovulation, inhibit tubal transport of the egg or sperm, interfere with fertilization, or alter the endometrium (the lining of the uterus), thereby inhibiting implantation of a fertilized egg. The copper in copper-T IUDs can prevent sperm from fertilizing an egg and can also alter the endometrium, thereby inhibiting implantation of a fertilized egg. When a woman is already pregnant, emergency contraception does not work. Emergency contraception is also harmless to the fetus and the mother. How effective is emergency contraception? On average, if 100 women have unprotected intercourse once during the second or third week of their cycle, 8 will become pregnant. Following treatment with combined ECPs, 2 will become pregnant (a 75% reduction in the risk of pregnancy); Following treatment with progestin-only ECPs, 1 will become pregnant (a 89% reduction in the risk of pregnancy); Following emergency insertion of a copper IUD, the risk of pregnancy is reduced by more than 99%. If a woman uses only emergency contraception for a year, and uses ECPs perfectly after every act of unprotected sex, then her annual risk of pregnancy would be about 38% with Preven and 19% with Plan B. ECPs when used perfectly are not as effective as other methods of ongoing contraception when used perfectly.
—Proc |
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piesore |
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Wednesday, August 4, 2004 at 12:02 AM Thanks for the info. I understand the general concept of what Drew and Adam talk about concerning this, like how it point of other medicines affecting implantation equally, but the pro-lifers not making any effort to pull them off the shelves, I was just trying to work out some of the details. —piesore |
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joe bloggs |
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Wednesday, August 4, 2004 at 6:40 PM A double-blind, controlled clinical trial in 1,955 evaluable women compared the efficacy and safety of Plan B (one 0.75 mg tablet of levonorgestrel taken within 72 hours of intercourse, and one tablet taken 12 hours later) to the Yuzpe regimen (two tablets of 0.25 mg levonorgestrel and 0.05 mg ethinyl estradiol, taken within 72 hours of intercourse, and two tablets taken 12 hours later). Plan B was at least as effective as the Yuzpe regimen in preventing pregnancy. After a single act of intercourse, the expected pregnancy rate of 8% (with no contraception) was reduced to approximately 1% with Plan B. Thus, Plan B reduced the expected number of pregnancies by 89%. Emergency contraceptives are not as effective as routine contraception since their failure rate, while low based on a single use, would accumulate over time with repeated use. —joe bloggs |
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