Data Bases • Custom Term Papers • Free Term Papers • Free Research Papers • Free Essays • Free Book Reports • Plagiarism? Links • Top 100 Term Paper Sites • Top 25 Essay Sites • Top 50 Essay Sites • Search 97,000 Papers @ DirectEssays.com • Search 101,000 Papers @ ExampleEssays.com • Search 90,000 Papers @ MegaEssays.com Free Essays • Term Paper Sites • Chuck III's Free Essays • Free College Essays • TermPaperSites.com • My Term Papers • Get Free Essays • Essay World • Planet Papers	Search Lots of Essays Back to Subjects - Sociology Emergency Contraceptives Emergency Contraceptives Emergency Contraceptives Lack of Availability and the Possibility of Being an Over the Counter Option for Sexually Active Women The question, "What did I do last night," has been posed by many women to themselves. Often in response to the inquiry comes details of a sexual encounter. Sometimes, an unprotected sexual encounter. Other times an encounter that was initially began with a condom that may have broke. Paranoid at the thought of pregnancy, women who have had unprotected sex can now have another option. They have the ability to obtain a prescrpition for emergency Emergency contraceptives, also known as the morning after pill or postcoital contraception, can be used up to seventy-two hours after intercourse (Advocates for Youth 1). The emergency contraceptive pill either delays or inhibits ovulatoin and/or alters tubal transport of sperm or ova, inhibiting fertilization; or by altering the endometrium and inhibiting implantation (Life Insight 4). "It is impossible to determine which mode of action is responsible in any given cycle for a woman's failure to conceive or maintain pregnancy after 'unprotected' intercourse" (Life Insight 4). The grace period of three days allows women the chance to obtain and fill a prescription for Preven of Plan B, two common emergency contraceptives. Controversy exists around the emergency contraceptive pills, as some have the viewpoint that it is similar to abortion, an equally controversial topic. Dr. Rob Pankratz believes that morning after pills work by 'deliberately causing the rejection of a newly concieved human being' (Physicians for Life 1). He also goes on to say that he does not prescribe morning after pills for conscience reasons, but will refer patients to doctors who do prescribe the pill as an obligation under his employment (Physicians for Life 1). Dr. Hanna Klaus of the Natural Family Planning Center believes that a woman may cease to acknowledge the fact that she may have created a life if she takes the emergency contraceptive as opposed to the alternative of having the child or an abortion (Physicians Weekly 2). She elaborates that emergency contraceptives may be damaging to a woman's emotional health leading to depression and lowered self-esteem as a Once a patient can obtain a prescription for an emergency contraceptive the quest may not end there. Often, pharmacies may not carry emergency contraceptives. Wal-Mart established a policy not to carry emergency contraceptives (American Medical Women's Association 1). The major pharmacy that sevices many American women said that it was a "business decision" not to carry emergency contraceptives (AMWA 1). Pharmacist Andy Cocco does not fill any prescriptions for emergency contraceptives, he does not stop anyone from attaining them but avoids getting involved (McCullough 1). Many pharmacist associations have adopted 'conscience-clause' which "affirms pharmacists' rights to refuse to fill prescriptions on moral, ethical or religious grounds." (McCuillough 1). Many believe that by furthering the availability of emergency contraceptives to being sold over the counter would put women at risk physically, psychologically, emotionally, and spiritually (Physician's Weekly 1). Dr. Stewart Jennings questions "who would provide the necessary screening and counseling to a woman who would likely be unaware of the mechanism by which she is preventing or terminating a pregnancy" (Dr. Jennings 1). Dr. Hanna Klaus agrees that over the counter availability for emergency contraceptives is a bad idea. She elaborates that women may suffer from such side effects as prolonged, patternless bleeding, metabolic alterations and emotional upset (Physician's Weekly 1). If emergency contraceptives were available without a prescription who would counsel and advise these women? For the argument that compares emergency contraceptives with abortion they must consider what has been put forward by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical Women's Association. (Advocates for Youth 1). "Pregnancy begins with the implantation and agree that ECPs do not cause abortion because they have no effect once implantation has occured. ECPs do not affect an established pregnancy and numerous studies for risk of birth deffects during regular use of oral contraceptives found no increased It is also a reasonable argument that emergency contraceptive pills meet the criteria for over the counter status according to Dr James Trussell. This is based on the fact that the dose remains the same for all individuals; therefore a woman can diagnose herself and administer the contraceptive (Physician's Weekly 1). Dr Trussell states that 'one out of every two women in the US has had an unitended pregnancy' and the option of over the counter emergency contraceptives enables wome to choose when and whether they want to be pregnant (Physician's Weekly 1). Another proponent of over the counter availability is Dr David Kaplan who views the possibility as exciting (Amednews.com 1). He emphasizes the effect that this could have for teenagers who often do not take a regular contraceptive and once engaged in sexual intercourse may be embarassed to contact their primary doctor (Amednews.com 1). Where teenagers are concerned some even go further. The French legislature recently considered making emergency contraceptives available to students through a school nurse (Choice.org 1). Many who oppose making emergency contraceptives available by over the counter say that it will lead to an increase in wreckless sexual behavior. A study out of Scotland concluded that " women in the group receiving advance provision of emergency contraceptive pills were not more likely than the control group to use them more repeatedly. Nor were there differences in the rates at which both groups of women used other contracptive methods" (kkf.org 3). Therefore, emergency contraceptive pills if made available over the counter would not affect the rate at which women used regular birth control or how often they engaged in sexual activity. These arguments recently met me head on. Over Christmas break, I wake up one Saturday morning to the phone ringing. A groggy hello greets my frantic friend on the other end of the line. Without asking what is wrong, I tell her I will be right over. An hour later I have learned that the night before she had slept with the guy she was dating. Explaining the previous night she told me she had drank too much and had failed to use protection. She was not on birth control and worried about the possibility of getting pregnant, something she was not interested in We went over the options. We had heard about the morning after pill. With no idea how to get the pill, I tell her to call her physician. This makes her nervous, understanding that her doctor is supposed to have a confindentialy with her, what if he tells her parents. After much debate she calls, afterall where else are we supposed to turn. The phone rings, and is picked up only by an answering service. Her doctor is not in the office on the weekends. We make a quick calculation. Incident happened Friday night, if the pill needs to be taken within seventy-two hours we need to hurry. She is afraid that the pill will not be effective if it is not taken immediately. We are extremely uneducated about the morning after pill. My friend is starting to get panicky, where is she supposed to get a prescription. Finally I call a women's clinic. I explain to the receptionist the situation. We are instructed to come to the clinic. The drive to the clinic is spent consoling my friend, she is afraid that she will be judged and treated in a demeaning way. She tells me repeatedly that she has never engaged in behavior this wreckless. The receptionist at the clinic is warm and friendly and after filling out paperwork we took our seat in the waiting room's plastic chairs. An hour later we were leaving the clinic. My friend never discussed what went on in the waiting room. To this day I still do not know if she recieved a physical exam or merely a series of questions or just a lecture. Regardless we left with two prescriptions. We were getting into the car feeling a little less lighter. Hoping that the stressful morning would soon be coming to a close and that my friend would be able to put this all behind her. Unfortunately that was about to change. We drove to a K Mart that seemed as far as we could get from our town. After handing over the prescription the pharmacist told us that they did not carry Preven, they did not carry any form of emergency contraceptives. We left and sat in our car dumbfounded. We drove for awhile unsure of what to do. We again called the women's clinic who were once again our saviors. They gave us a small list of pharmacies that would fill our We drove to the first name on the list. We walked inside and had both prescriptions filled, one for the Preven, and another for naseau. Almost five hours after our initial conversation the problem was finally solved. Hopefully, we still knew that the emergency contraceptive was only seventy four percent effective for those women that would actually have become pregnant (Advocates for Youth 1). Weeks later it was confirmed that my friend was not pregnant. If she would have concieved regardless of the emergency contraceptive is unknown. She confided in me that had she been pregnant she did not know if she could go through an abortion, yet never expressed any regrets about taking the pill. Before the ordeal of trying to obtain an emergency contraceptive I was indifferent on the issue. Now, I think that emergency contraceptives should not only have a greater availability but also be available over the counter. I personally believe in a woman's right to choose when considering the abortion issue. I understand that this may have biased my decision regarding the emergency contraceptives. I do not believe that it is the same as abortion, merely doubling a dosage of birth control. For those who argue that women may suffer emotional distress I find this a hard concept to swallow. If then does a woman need counseling to avoid emotional distress after every episode of sexual intercourse when she is on birth control. As I would never recommend that a doctor must perform an abortion, I do not believe that pharmacists must fill a prescription for Preven or Plan B. I do have a recommendation that if emergency contraceptives were to be available over the counter that the pharmacutical companies offer counseling a Bibliography: Works Cited Advocates for Youth Available http:advocatesforyouth.org Viewed Feb 26, 2002 Amednews.com "OTC emergency contraceptive pushed, but not imminent" Marhc 5, 2001 Available: http://www.ama_asn.org/sci-pubs/amnews/pick_01/prsc0301.htm Viewed Feb 26, 2002 American Medical Women's Association (AMWA) Available: http:www/amwa-doc.org/Advocacy/action_alert2.html Viewed Feb 26, 2002 Canadian Physicians for Life "Dr. Rob Pankratz" Available: http://www.physiciansforlife.ca/winter%20'98.html Viewed Feb 26, 2002 Choice.org "Should Emergency Contraceptives Be Available in Schools?" Available http://www.choice.org/2.ecp.4.html Jennings, Stewart, MD "Purchasers may not understand OTC emergency contraceptives" Available: http://www.ama-assn.org/sci-pubs/amnews/anm_01/edlt0416.htm Viewed Feb 26, 2002 KKF.org (Kaiser Family Foundation) "Emergency Contraception: From Prescription to Over the Counter" November 2000 Available: http://www.kkf.org Viewed Feb26, 2002 Life Insight. Availabile: http;//www.nccbuscc.org/profile/pubilcat/lifeinsight/sept89.html Viewed Feb 26, 2002. McCullough, Marie "Rightrrl Karen Brauer And the Pharmacist's Conscience Clause-In the News" March 28, 1999 Available: http://www.rightgrrl.com/dec97grrl/032899.shtml Physician's Weekly January 1, 2001 Available: http://www.physweekly. com/archive/01/01_01_01/pc.html Viewed Feb 26, 2002 Word Count: 1754
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