Articles about Emergency Contraception
February 10th, 2011 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
Statement by Kirsten Moore, President & CEO of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project, on the filing of an application by Teva Pharmaceuticals with the Food and Drug Administration that would remove the over-the-counter age restriction on Plan B One-Step®:
“We are thrilled that Teva Pharmaceuticals has submitted an application to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to remove the over-the-counter age restriction on its emergency contraceptive product, Plan B One-Step.
“Medical evidence shows that Plan B One-Step is a safe and effective back-up contraceptive option for women of all ages. There is no medical or scientific rationale for age restrictions on emergency contraception. Although FDA’s request for new data from the company before removing the age restriction was unwarranted and unnecessary, we hope the FDA finally has all the information it needs to make a decision and will use this opportunity to confirm their commitment to public health and scientific integrity.
“Things don’t always work out as planned. Timely access to an effective backup method of contraception will give more women the chance to prevent an unintended pregnancy.”
Statement by Susan Wood, Associate Professor at the School of Public Health and Health Services at George Washington University, and Board member of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project:
“During the original review process for Plan B to go over-the-counter, the FDA reviewers repeatedly indicated that there was no medical or scientific need for new data on younger teens. While it is good news that the FDA is now reviewing an application for removing the age restriction on over-the-counter Plan B One-Step, I hope this process does not set a precedent at the FDA for new data as a condition of approval for OTC access by teens under 17. In addition to limiting the access for younger teens to emergency contraception, this approach could have unintended consequences, if FDA is setting out new data requirements for all OTC products used by teens.”
Background: Emergency contraception is a safe, effective back-up method of birth control that can prevent pregnancy in the first few days after unprotected sex or contraceptive failure. Current emergency contraceptive products on the market are dual labeled Plan B® One-Step and a Plan B generic, Next Choice®, as well as recently approved prescription product, ella®.
For more information about emergency contraception, please visit http://www.rhtp.org/contraception/emergency/default.asp
No Comments • Posted in: Emergency Contraception
November 4th, 2010 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
[Our friend Kelly Cleland presented this paper a few weeks ago at the International Consortium on Emergency Contraception. We talked to her in our podcast, and this is the paper she was referring to.]
Authors
Kelly Cleland, MPA MPH, Elizabeth Raymond, MD MPH, James Trussell, PhD, Linan Cheng, MD, Haoping Zhu, MD
Précis
The rate of ectopic pregnancy when treatment with emergency contraceptive pills fails does not exceed the rate observed in the general population.
Abstract
Objective: The safety of emergency contraceptive pills has been extensively studied and confirmed, yet some concerns remain about whether their use increases the risk of ectopic pregnancy when treatment fails. The rate of ectopic pregnancy in the general population is estimated to range between 0.8% and 2% of all reported pregnancies. The objective of this study was to evaluate the existing data to estimate the rate of ectopic pregnancy among emergency contraceptive pill treatment failures.
Data Sources: Our initial reference list was generated from a 2008 Cochrane review of emergency contraception. In August 2009, we searched Biosys Previews, the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, Medline, Global Health Database, Health Source,, Popline, and Wanfang Data (a Chinese database).
Methods of Study Selection: This study included data from 136 studies which followed a defined population of women treated one time with emergency contraceptive pills (either mifepristone or levonorgestrel), and in which the number and location of pregnancies were ascertained.
Results: Data from each article were abstracted independently by two reviewers. In the studies of mifepristone, 3 out of 494 (0.6%) pregnancies were ectopic; in the levonorgestrel studies, 3 out of 307 (1%) were ectopic.
Conclusion: The rate of ectopic pregnancy when treatment with emergency contraceptive pills fails does not exceed the rate observed in the general population. Because emergency contraceptive pills are effective in lowering the risk of pregnancy, their use should reduce the chance that an act of intercourse will result in ectopic pregnancy.
Continue reading this article »
No Comments • Posted in: Emergency Contraception
October 22nd, 2010 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
The International Consortium for Emergency Contraception (ICEC) and the American Society for Emergency Contraception (ASEC) honored Lon Newman, Executive Director of Family Planning Health Services (FPHS) in Central Wisconsin, with the Ellertson Innovation in EC award at their annual meeting held in New York on October 13 and 14, 2010. Sharing the award with Newman is the Center for the Promotion and Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights (PROMSEX), a leading non-governmental organization fighting for access to EC in Peru.
The Ellertson Innovation in EC award was established by ASEC in honor of Charlotte Ellertson, one of ASEC’s founders, and is given to an individual or group that has made a bold move to expand access to EC in the past year.
In December 2009, Newman partnered with Young Catholics for Choice in a Wisconsin campaign to promote discussion of EC. The energy and efforts of the young women visiting Wisconsin communities showcased the issue for young Catholic women. Newman commented at the time “Our role in this partnership is to help patients come to an informed decision. The role of Young Catholics for Choice is to help members of our community come to a balanced understanding of these controversial issues from a faith-based perspective.” The campaign enjoyed the full support of David Nolan, Communications Director of Catholics for Choice, who said; “There is a real need for Catholics and people of all faiths to be educated so they can make their own ethical decisions – in this case, about emergency contraception. We’re proud to work with FPHS to share our perspective with communities in Wisconsin.”
FPHS promotes EC through outreach, education, collaboration, policy work and the placement of EC Lockboxes in many communities coordinating with the statewide EC Hotline – 866-ECFIRST.
In acknowledgement of this prestigious award Newman said, “FPHS’ board of directors and our staff should take well-deserved credit for winning this very competitive award from a very dedicated group of people who are making the world a better place. We are teaching women that EC prevents unwanted pregnancies and we are making EC easily available. The beneficiaries of these efforts to provide accurate medical information and compassionate care are the families in our communities. “
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October 22nd, 2010 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
NEW YORK, October 18, 2010: The International Consortium for Emergency Contraception (ICEC) and the American Society for Emergency Contraception (ASEC) held their annual joint meeting on October 13th and 14th, 2010, bringing together over 100 advocates, researchers, pharmaceutical representatives, and other leaders in the field to discuss expanding efforts to ensure access to emergency contraception (EC). At the meeting, awards were given to honor three leading individuals and organizations for their efforts to expand access to EC.
The Ellertson Innovation in EC award is given annually to an individual or group that has made a bold move to expand access to EC. The award was established by the ASEC in honor of Charlotte Ellertson, one of the group’s founders. This year the award was given to PROMSEX (Center for the Promotion and Defense of Sexual and Reproductive Rights), a leading non-governmental organization fighting for access to EC in Peru, and to Lon Newman, the innovative Executive Director of Family Planning Health Services in Wisconsin. The recipients were publicly recognized at the ICEC and ASEC meeting and received a monetary award.
A new lifetime achievement award was awarded for the first time this year to honor the memory of Felicia Stewart, a lifelong reproductive health advocate. The Felicia Stewart Lifetime Achievement award was given to Francine Coeytaux, an innovative and widely-respected women’s health and reproductive health specialist who has worked to expand reproductive health and rights in the United States and globally.
The International Consortium for Emergency Contraception and the American Society for Emergency Contraception commend all three award winners for their important efforts to ensure access to EC in both the United States and around the world.
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May 6th, 2010 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
This comes to us from our friend Jon O’Brien, the President of Catholics for Choice. It first appeared in the Huffington Post.
Catholics Call on Pope Benedict to Reconsider Vatican’s Ban on Contraceptive Pill
Fifty years ago this week, the US Food and Drug Administration approved the contraceptive pill. The man most prominently associated with the development and introduction of the pill, John Rock, was an Irish Catholic doctor from Boston. Dr. Rock didn’t set out to make waves with the Vatican; in fact, he was sure that his invention would gain approval from the Vatican and finally allow Catholics to practice safe and effective family planning. He was successful on both counts. Three different layers of a Vatican commission approved the pill back in 1965. But Pope Paul VI decided to ignore the findings of those panels and condemned Catholic women to a variety of unreliable methods if they were to follow the Vatican’s dictates. To this day, most Catholic women ignore the Vatican’s decree, and many millions of them have safer and more reliable family planning thanks to Dr. Rock’s pill.
The story of the pill’s genesis is a fascinating one. John Rock was an infertility expert who was a pioneer behind many modern methods of assisting couples to conceive. In the course of his work, he also met many fertile Catholic women who wanted to space the births of their children, and sometimes to avoid having children. The Vatican’s ban on artificial methods of contraception meant that they had to rely on so-called natural methods, when a couple can only have sexual intercourse during the time each month when a woman is infertile if they want to avoid pregnancy. This was unacceptable to many, unworkable for those who have unreliable cycles and impossible for women who could not negotiate their sexual relationship with their partners.
Rock, who worked with biologist Gregory Pincus to develop the pill, was convinced “that every couple should be able to choose freely the number of children they could afford — materially and emotionally — to bring into the world.”
Rock figured that he could invent a hormonal pill that suppressed ovulation and therefore extend the safe period for sex as long as a woman stayed on the pill. He reasoned that the Vatican would accept this, and Catholic women who did not want to go against the Vatican would be able to have a healthy sex life.
Contraception was an issue the Vatican had addressed before, and the advent of the pill raised new questions about Catholics and family planning. The Vatican had imposed a ban on “artificial” methods of contraception, such as condoms and diaphragms, in the1930 encyclical Casti Connubii. There was growing debate in the church about whether this ban should be continued, and if so, whether it should be broadened to include the new pill.
This was a huge issue for the Catholic church, and not long after the introduction of the pill, in 1963, Pope John XXIII convened a panel to study the matter. The papal commission on birth control was composed of bishops, priests and lay people, including married Catholic women. They considered Catholic theology, modern science and the lives that married Catholics lead. The commission voted overwhelmingly to recommend that the church rescind its ban on contraception. The pope, concerned that overturning the ban would call all of the hierarchy’s teachings into question, appointed a second commission, made up of 15 bishops, which also voted overwhelmingly to recommend that the church rescind its ban on contraception.
The results of these votes were leaked, and there was widespread rejoicing among Catholics. It was therefore a significant shock to Catholics — and indeed most of the world — when the encyclical Humanae Vitae was finally released by Pope Paul VI on July 29, 1968, proclaiming the teaching on contraception unchanged and unchangeable.
The pope had completely ignored the work and recommendations of his own commission, despite five meetings over three years and a vote by 30 of the 35 commission’s lay members, 15 of the 19 theologians and 9 of 12 bishops that the teaching be changed (three bishops abstained).
There is little need to reconvene a commission to study this issue. Not much has changed to negate the findings of the majority votes in the commission. Indeed, we have learned so much more about safe reproductive health that supports the real world application of the commission’s findings. It makes no sense to continue the Vatican’s wrong-headed approach to family planning. Even without the twin scourges of maternal mortality and HIV/AIDS, there are billions of good reasons to allow women to plan their families and to allow them to decide when and whether to have children: namely the 3.5 billion women in the world, of whom about 600 million are Catholic.
It would be a lasting and wholly positive legacy if the current pope got behind the majority report of the 1963-68 commission and lifted the ban on the use of contraceptives to allow Catholics to plan their families. Given the fact that today, in the United States, 97 percent of sexually active Catholic women above the age of 18 have used some form of contraception banned by the Vatican, it makes little sense to continue the ban. In fact, the ban does more harm to the Vatican and its teaching authority than would changing it.
Dr. Rock was a Catholic champion of women’s health. If the Vatican wants to regain some relevance and respect on this issue, it’s time to join him in his support for contraception.
Jon O’Brien is the president of Catholics for Choice
No Comments • Posted in: Emergency Contraception
February 16th, 2010 • Contributed by Lon Newman
“A defender of the church,” proclaimed the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel headline for an extensive story about the new Archbishop-designate, Jerome Listecki. The subtitle for the article was: “Archbishop designate Listecki vows collaboration, but unafraid of debate.” The subtitle was probably derived from the bishop’s description of how he planned to participate in the political process. He said: “If we don’t challenge one another’s statements, then we’re relinquishing our responsibility to the common good.”
The following month, young Catholics for Choice (yCFC – a Washington D.C. based organization) and Family Planning Health Services (FPHS – an agency with family planning clinics in eight Wisconsin counties) formed a unique sectarian-secular advertising partnership, produced informational ads for broadcast, and then embarked on a two-day Wisconsin “road-trip” to draw media attention to their campaign and to build public (including the Catholic public) awareness and knowledge about emergency contraception.
The purpose of the joint media campaign was two-fold; 1) to inform the public about how Plan B works so they would have it on hand in advance of need and, 2) to inform Catholic women of reproductive age that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops health care directives permit the use of emergency contraception to prevent pregnancies resulting from rape.
In the January 2010 issue of the Journal of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, Ron Hamel, Ph.D., makes it very clear that the ethics of access to emergency contraception for Catholics needs to be fully examined and explained. Professor Hamel’s article and the YCFC/FPHS EC campaign are an effort to fulfill that responsibility when there is significant resistance.
The campaign succeeded in getting a response from the Archbishop-designate and thus succeeded in its secondary purpose. The headline on the Christmas Eve edition of the La Crosse Diocesan newspaper is: “Bishop Rejects Young Catholics for Choice Message.” The front page column ran adjacent to the departing bishop’s message. But what he rejected so prominently: “ . . . that Catholics can disregard Church teaching on contraception, abortion, and human sexuality in general and remain Catholics in good standing,” was only weakly connected to the message that yCFC and Family Planning Health Services (FPHS) were promoting.
Bishop Listecki, like most of the Catholic protestors in front of the FPHS clinic, will allow “no room for interpretation,” once the bishop’s authority has been invoked. Many within the church see the bishop’s pattern of authoritarian rebukes, condemnations, and admonitions as futile efforts to suppress dissent and they understand they are not the views of other Catholics or even the other American bishops. Just as importantly, the denials and condemnations are not solely inflicted on the faithful. The prayer vigil protestors’ and Bishop Listecki’s efforts to eliminate access to emergency contraception, if they succeed, would apply to women regardless of their faith.
Erik Cieslewicz and Brooke Sperry have produced a documentary about the joint campaign that will be released February 17th, 2010. The web-posting will occur on the same day that another Lenten prayer vigil outside an FPHS clinic (which does not provide abortion services) begins in central Wisconsin. The video shows the challenge as well as the fun of the effort to educate the public in the face of consistent efforts to suppress and to misinform. Earlier, “40 Days for Life” prayer vigils played a large part in motivating FPHS and yCFC to cooperate in the advertising effort to correct misinformation being spread by their opponents.
Enjoy the video!
No Comments • Posted in: Action, Birth Control, Emergency Contraception, Family Planning, Policy
January 18th, 2010 • Contributed by Sue Kettner
During these days as we wait for what Congress will do in the area of Health Insurance Reform, we found a good resource that may help many people understand Plan B or Emergency Contraception. The following article is written and nicely documented by Ron Hamel, Ph.D. in the Journal of the Catholic Health Association of the United States.
2 Comments • Posted in: Emergency Contraception
November 30th, 2009 • Contributed by Lon Newman
The belief that contraception is intrinsically evil, though sincere, does not make it true. The belief that it is “written in everyone’s heart as “natural law” is no more persuasive. If true, it seems there would be no disagreement.
Catholic leaders know they have not persuaded one another, the public, or their own laity, to agree that contraception is evil. So when it comes to public policy, rather than engage in dialogue and debate, they seem to make a statement and end it with a “Dixi” (Latin for “I have spoken”) as though that is all that should be necessary.
Continue reading this article »
No Comments • Posted in: Birth Control, Emergency Contraception, Policy
October 27th, 2009 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
from our friend Elizabeth Westley at ICEC
Please find below my summary and interpretation of a recent decision in Peru. My thanks to our colleagues at the Center for Reproductive Rights for helping me understand the implications of this case. Any errors are mine alone!
Peru’s Highest Court Rules Against EC
Peru’s Constitutional Court (Tribunal Constitucional) has stopped the Ministry of Health’s free distribution of EC in a decision issued on October 22nd. In addition, this decision requires local distributors of EC to add a warning to the package insert stating that this product could cause an abortion.
Continue reading this article »
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April 22nd, 2009 • Contributed by Dahlia Ward
The Associated Press is reporting that Plan B (emergency contraception) will soon be available without a prescription for teens 17 and under. We expect the FDA to shortly announce its compliance with the court decision we reported on last month that slammed the FDA for its politically driven decision to impose an age restriction. We hope that this is the first step in making Plan B accessible and affordable for all women who need it.
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