Why Emergency Contraception Needs To Be Used For Emergencies Only
Posted by: Ami Angelowicz
Filed in:
news
11:50AM, Thursday August 6th 2009
The one and only time I experienced a condom breaking, I rushed to my doctor to get a prescription for the Plan B emergency contraceptive pill. This was before it was available over the counter. When the doctor explained the complications—the pain, nausea, and bleeding—I was terrified to take the pill and decided to wait it out a day or two. Luckily, I never had to actually use it. I know there has been lots of debate about whether or not it is a good idea to make EC pills easily accessible to young adults. I’ve generally thought it was a good idea because, really, who would want to take a pill with those side effects unless they HAD to, right? That’s why when I read this article in the Times of India about how emergency contraceptives are being used as casual contraception, I was concerned.
The statistics are anecdotal, but insane: Dr. Shilpi Tiwari says that more than 50 percent of her clients in their late teens and early 20s show up for treatment with EC-related complications. And she’s not alone—gynos in India claim that there is a sharp spike in women who are arbitrarily and repeatedly using EC pills and abortion pills for fetuses up to 45 days old! The problem? They are using the internet to self-treat and not understanding the consequences or long-term side effects of EC use. And they’re ending up with incomplete abortions, uncontrollable bleeding, or no periods.
Worse? Their reasons. In the article, a 21-year-old college graduate said, “When you’re with your boyfriend, you don’t want to use condoms. [There are complications] at times, but you prefer sex without a condom.” Or 21-year-old Sukriti Kumar, who went to Dr. Vishakha Munjal not knowing if she was pregnant after getting rip-roaring drunk at a party and not remembering if she and her partner had sex that night. She took the abortion pill just in case, but knew something was wrong when she had excessive bleeding.
I am speechless. Let’s hope this does not become a trend worldwide.
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wonder_bread
wrote on August 6 2009 @ 10:59 am: [report]
sadly i am not shocked..sometimes no matter how much you try to educate and make people aware of the affects these drugs can have on them ther are still the group that abuses it and ends up concerned when their lady bits arent workin right… i hope the girls are okay..
amyp
wrote on August 6 2009 @ 11:34 am: [report]
This article is grossly misleading. Emergency contraception is not an abortion pill.
Here is information from the Mayo Clinic on emergency contraception:
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/morning-after-pill/AN00592
To equate the two, as was done in this posting, is inaccurate and unhelpful.
joyy
wrote on August 6 2009 @ 11:45 am: [report]
@amyp - I think that’s the point: that women in India are misusing it (as an abortion pill in some cases).
tabby
wrote on August 6 2009 @ 11:48 am: [report]
@amyp, I was going to say the same thing. Plan B will NOT cause you to have an abortion if you are already pregnant.
@ Ami, As for the side effects, they are no where near so bad as your doctor led you to believe. There was a period of time in my life where I had taken Plan B at least 5 times in the span of so many months. (And ironically, so did my best friend). So here are our guidelines for taking Plan B based on repeated usage:
1) If you take the first pill right before you go to sleep, you will bypass the nauseous feeling because by the time you take the second pill your body will have adjusted.
2) Any cramping you feel (and you likely won’t feel any) is at the regular period level of cramping. Nothing that a Motrin or Midol won’t fix.
3) If you have taken Plan B after the ovulation point in your cycle, you can expect your period to come within 2 to 3 days. However, if you are taking Plan B at the beginning of your menstrual cycle, you likely won’t have your period until about the same time as you would have regularly had it.
4) Bleeding was perhaps slightly heavier than other periods. But there was no gushing of blood or anything scary about it.
Granted these are not lab-approved rules or results, but women who have never taken Plan B may want to know what it is really like.
Coral
wrote on August 6 2009 @ 12:02 pm: [report]
I know emergency contraception is not an abortion pill. The EC pills are only really effective for about 72 hours after having unprotected sex. A couple of years ago, one of my friends was driving across many states to get the EC pill, because it wasn’t available over the counter, and she was still a minor. She got the pill within 72 hours, but it still did not work, and she has twin daughters. Because the warning is that the pill is the most effective within the first 24 hours. So I do not see how this could be used as an ‘abortion pill’.
treehugr
wrote on August 6 2009 @ 12:04 pm: [report]
I worked for many, many years as a pharmacy technician (and have personally required Plan B once in my life)—the side effects from the pill are not devastating or life threatening, however I had teenage girls coming into my pharmacy more than once a month to buy Plan B. Now that it’s over the counter, girls are not being educated in this country either that it’s not an appropriate form of birth control, so we’re already running into the same problem India is. It’s extremely dangerous to use frequently in a short period of time and it could possibly lead to infertility later on.
Ami Angelowicz
wrote on August 6 2009 @ 12:07 pm: [report]
Hey! Just to clarify, I’m not at all saying that Plan B and the Abortion Pill are the same, just that they’re both being misused by young women and doctors are seeing an increase of patients with complications from repeated use.
Chebs
wrote on August 6 2009 @ 12:15 pm: [report]
It’s pretty sad that people would abuse something with the word ‘emergency’ in the name. I’m glad EC exists, because there are plenty more people who use it responsibly when their regular contraception fails, but the people who can’t and end up with malfunctioning uteruses make everyone look bad. Still, I do hope these girls/young women end up ok. Everyone makes mistakes when they’re young, and it would be a shame for them to suffer for the rest of their life for it.
amyp
wrote on August 6 2009 @ 12:56 pm: [report]
Ami - If you are not saying that they are the same, you need to clarify that.
“And she’s not alone—gynos in India claim that there is a sharp spike in women who are arbitrarily and repeatedly using EC pills and abortion pills for fetuses up to 45 days old! The problem? They are using the internet to self-treat and not understanding the consequences or long-term side effects of EC use. And they’re ending up with incomplete abortions, uncontrollable bleeding, or no periods.”
The side effects of the two are very different - and the post that you have written does not distinguish between the two.
From the Plan B website:
“The most common adverse reactions (≥10%) in clinical trials
included heavier menstrual bleeding (31%), nausea (14%), lower
abdominal pain (13%), fatigue (13%), headache (10%), and
dizziness (10%). (6.1)”
Uncontrollable bleeding is a side effect of Mifepristone, not of Plan B.
Secondly, Mifepristone is NOT sold over the counter in the US and it is not legal to sell it over the counter in India - although there are some reports of black market sales in India.
HCRNJ
wrote on August 6 2009 @ 02:06 pm: [report]
I work on the Plan B Brand and would like to make a clarification:
Emergency contraception does NOT terminate an existing pregnancy. It helps prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex or contraceptive failure, and it will not work if a woman is already pregnant. Visit http://www.PlanBOneStep.com for more information, including full product information.
poppets
wrote on August 7 2009 @ 12:04 am: [report]
One of the main reasons that EC pills are being casually is because they are freely advertised on television. I’m living in India at the moment and whenever there’s an ad break on TV, there’s almost always a commercial for EC. In one commercial, a girl is shown looking distressed and standing outside an abortion clinic, but then her friend comes along with the EC pill and then everything is okay - thus sending the message that they are tantamount to abortion pills. Not only are these adverts completely irresponsible and misleading, there isn’t even basic sex education classes in secondary schools to teach girls how to use it properly.
One of the things I really can’t get used to in India is how taboo the subject of sex is to the point that any useful information regarding the subject is never discussed. There’s so much stigma attached to simply asking your family doctor for your regular contraceptive pill, even if you only want to use it for period problems. I have a friend whose mum is a local politician in India and during a session for her state legislative assembly, she advocated the introduction of sex education in schools. Her comments caused so much controversy that she later had to retract what she said!