NPR demonstrates why its listenership is really low and it needs public support to survive.
New ‘Morning After’ Pill Works Five Days Later, Too : NPR.
“Paul Fine would like to stop seeing emergency contraceptives referred to as “morning after pills”, the story opens.
Well, those interested in accuracy and honesty continue to use that term, since calling it “contraception” is misbranding.
All of the morning after pills can operate by interceptive (post fertilization) mechanisms to stop the life of an early human embryo.
Not withstanding the similar words from Dr. Donna Harrison, a representative of the ob-gyn physicians who DON’T make money by prescribing these morning after pills, NPR plods on with the latest apologetics.
The interceptive mechanisms are explained away by stating that the pills sometimes don’t work and claiming that the failures are post ovulatory. It is fact that both Plan B and EllaOne have extremely high failure rate, but this is not adequate evidence against the action of interceptive mechanisms, the likelihood of which the manufacturer admits in the CHMP Assessment Report.
In fact, the interceptive mechanism of EllaOne, a drug closely related to mifepristone (RU-486) is much more obvious. Efficacy of the drug in stopping pregnancy stays the same, (or perhaps even rises) when used during the entire recommended 5 day period after intercourse.
The morning after pill dose is about 0.5mg/kg in an average size woman. This is considerably LOWER than the dose required to stop ovulation (seen in animal studies). This latter dose is closer to the embryocidal, or fetocidal dose.
Think of it this way:
ulipristal acetate 30mg EllaOne morning after pill ———-> ulipristal acetate 120mg higher dose needed to stop ovulation——–>ulipristal acetate 300mg higher dose to kill more developed embryos and fetuses.
Therefore, doses of EllaOne can be accumulated for home abortions, and one can be certain that this will happen when this morning after pill is placed over the counter.
It will become another tool in the armory of planned parenthood along-side the tele-abortions offered (in Iowa) using mifepristone and misoprostil.
Below are tidbits from the CHMP Assessment Report, (European Medicines Agency Evaluation of Medicines for Human Use)
which is linked here, and on the sidebar of this blog.
1) “Ulipristal acetate (17α-Acetoxy-11β-(4-N,N-dimethylaminophenyl)-19-norpregna-4,9-diene-3,20-dione, also known as CDB-2914, VA2914, HRP-2000 and RTI-3021-012) is a compound that is derived from 19-norprogesterone. It is a synthetic selective progesterone receptor modulator with antagonistic and partial agonistic effects at the progesterone receptor. It binds the human progesterone, but not the estrogen receptor3. Ulipristal acetate prevents progesterone from occupying its receptor, thus the gene transcription normally turned on by progesterone is blocked, and the proteins necessary to begin and maintain pregnancy are not synthesized.”
2) “In vitro, Ulipristal acetate binds competitively to the progesterone, glucocorticoid and androgen receptors, but has minimal affinity for the estrogen or mineralocorticoid receptors. Pre-clinical studies indicate that ulipristal acetate binds to the human progesterone, glucocorticoid and androgen receptors at approximately 6, 1.5 and 0.2 times the affinity of the endogenous ligands. The compound has antiprogestational activity in rats, rabbits and monkeys, with additional antiglucocorticoid and antiandrogen activity at doses ∼50 times higher than those needed for antiprogestational activity. Since progesterone is critical for implantation, it was thought that ulipristal acetate may have promise as a contraceptive agent.” **
3)”The ability of ulipristal acetate to terminate pregnancies was investigated in the guinea-pig and monkey. Ulipristal, mifepristone and lilopristone were approximately equipotent at the dose levels of 10 and 30 mg/day in terminating pregnancies in guinea-pigs when the animals were treated on days 43 and 44 of gestation. Pregnant long-tailed macaques (5/group) were administered ulipristal acetate 0.5 or 5 mg/kg/day p.o. or 0.5 mg/kg/day i.m. on days 23-26 of gestation. Pregnant animals were assessed by ultrasound pretreatment (day 23) and then monitored on days 26-28, 30, 32, 35, 55, 80, 100, 130 and 145. At 0.5 mg/kg of ulipristal acetate there was no loss of foetuses, while at 5 mg/kg 2/5 foetuses were lost. When using intramuscular administration of 0.5 mg/kg 4/5 foetuses were lost in ulipristal acetate treated animals. In monkeys in which pregnancy continued and which were allowed to deliver normally, there was no evidence of structural or physiological abnormalities in foetuses.”
** note misuse of the word “contraceptive” for interceptive mechanism in tidbit number 2.