The morning-after pill (MAP) should be called the Mendacity Anytime Pill because of the fabric of deception supporting MAP coming from frat house playboys, the FDA, MAP promoters, and politicized doctors in the University's Student Health clinic.
Let's examine the playboys', "I'll love you in the morning," refrain.
Born in 1944, my generation was not perfect. Yes, there were five venereal diseases, and the two prominent ones were treated by penicillin. But now, the National Institute of Medicine says there are at least 25 venereal diseases infecting 75 million Americans with lifetime infecting STDs -- many of which cause sterility and do not respond to medical treatment, and some that cause death. There are about 15 million new STD cases every year in the United States One-fourth occur in teens and two-thirds in Americans under the age of 25.
What is the difference? For the most part, childbirth occurred within marriage, even where for some, conception didn't. And, based on public health figures, the death rate of reproductive-aged women show there were very few illegal abortions, not the 1.4 million surgical abortions that now occur every year in the United States.
We had no government programs passing out MAP or other birth control to hormone raging teens and single young adults on or off campus. If the supposed leaders of tomorrow and future captains of industry need the school nurse to fornicate, their primal incompetence is terminal.
Let's consider the FDA's lies about safety and concern for women's health.
In a move without precedent for a government regulatory agency, the FDA begged major pharmaceutical companies to manufacturer MAPs. When none did -- the Wall Street Journal said because of liability questions -- permission was given to two small companies established solely for the purpose of selling MAPs.
Unlike other drugs, the FDA did not require pre-marketing animal and human testing to establish the safety, effectiveness and mode of action of MAPs, but instead relied on 21 American and foreign purportedly scientific papers and testimony, the overwhelming number of which dealt with efficacy -- not safety. Taking so-called emergency contraception is like taking about 30 days worth of the progesterone-only birth control pill in 12 hours! Not smart.
The FDA didn't look for evidence of disease. They found none! The FDA failed to consider any paper which found the MAP to be an abortifacient.They didn't want to know if MAP caused an early abortion. So they call MAP a contraceptive.
This brings up the MAP is contraception "fib." The University Student Health Center tells students that at the University Hospital, "Some ER physicians do not prescribe EC." But if the FDA says EC is safe and effective, is it abortion that stops such physicians from prescribing EC?
The University's medical school human anatomy course book, Human Embryology (1998) by William Larsen, states: "Fertilization takes place in the oviduct ... Embryonic development is considered to begin at this point ... this moment of zygote formation may be taken as the beginning or zero time point of embryonic development."
Dr. Abraham Stone, former Planned Parenthood medical director wrote that any mechanical or chemical birth control or "... biologic [sic] method that would prevent ovulation or fertilization merely prevent life from beginning ... Measures designed to prevent implantation fall into a different category. Here there is a question of destroying a life already begun."
The University's Dr. Christine Peterson was cited by the Virginia Health Department for her "professional assistance in reviewing the contents of the booklet," given to women just before an abortion. Dr. Peterson, approved the following definition which shows MAP works as an abortion: "WEEKS AFTER FERTILIZATION: The age of an unborn child measured from the estimated day of fertilization."
But Dr. Peterson even tells students MAP is contraceptive. You can see why she is reluctant to debate this. But then she claims MAP is safe too.
Last, let's look at the MAP false advertising.
This embarrassed even the in-bed-with-industry FDA which last November issued a formal warning to its own hand picked manufacturer, the Women's Capital Corporation, to cease an ad campaign on behalf of the "Plan B" MAP. The WCC made false and misleading efficacy claims, minimized important risk information, and its print ads for Plan B lacked "fair balance and is misleading because it fails to present information about the risks associated with the use of Plan B with a prominence and readability reasonably comparable to the presentation of information relating to the effectiveness of the drug."
If the Board of Visitors continues this flawed policy of furnishing MAP, there are General Assembly members who prefer the truth to error, and who will act on it in the 2004 Assembly.
(Bob Marshall is a member of the Virginia House of Delegates.)
Read More
PATEL: Personal development courses support students beyond the gradebook
By Heer Patel | 2 days agoThe University must rethink its approach to education beyond traditional major-specific requirements and mandate personal development courses.
EDITORIAL: Commercialization threatens U.Va.’s educational mission
By Editorial Board | 3 days agoAfter all, measuring the University’s worth in terms of accrued capital, operational efficiency and numerical rankings molds this space into just another cookie-cutter institution.
YOUNIS: Why every U.Va. student should say yes to English
By Ayat Younis | January 9, 2025Every student at the University, regardless of their primary field of study, can professionally and academically benefit from engaging with the English department.
