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Jul. 13th, 2007 05:51 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jebbypalOn DailyKos, a married woman tells of the hassles she had in getting Plan B, and the fact that she ended up pregnant after taking it.
I could only read through about ten of the comments before I had to stop. But, I can see the wheels grinding and can imagine how this will be interpreted by the far right:
1) Plan B is too painful to be an OTC medicine
2) It doesn't work.
To which, I must insert some knowledge into the fold. Knowledge which, any woman who has had a decent sex-ed class (a dying breed, I know), knows.
Plan B is effective if taken within 72 hours of the sexual activity, but this 72 hour window comes with limitations.
Ovulation occurs on a cycle. Plan B operates by interupting ovulation via an extra high dose of progesterone. If you've already ovulated, there is evidence that Plan B actually encourages ovulation (which, if you've had enough reproductive bio courses, should make sense to you --- that's the main function of progesterone during pregnancy!).
Okay, now if you look at hormones within the cycle, one can predict when you'll ovulate by knowing the last day of your period. It typically happens at the midpoint of the "normal" 3 week cycle before the next start of menstruation. Notice I said typically. Not everyone has a three week cycle. Also, some people have aberrant ovulation --- point of fact, my mother discovered after having issues getting pregnant that she ovulates near the end of her cycle. I've heard from friends who's mothers found the opposite.
So, if you have sex and you ovulate prior to being able to procure Plan B.....well, you're out of luck. Of course, if you have sex more than three days after you ovulate, you don't need Plan B. Sadly, even for a single woman, that changes from month to month as to the exact day. And for a number of women, we don't know if we've ovulated (some women reporting feeling a sharp back cramp when they do. Some).
So to review: Plan B does not cause abortions. It prevents egg release. No fertilization occurs, ergo no abortion. If Plan B is taken after ovulation, Plan B actually encourages implatation of the new embryo (I'm going to spell that out for the hard to convince anti-science types: IT WILL ENCOURAGE PREGNANCY).
This is why it is imperative that Plan B be easily available. At least, if you have any belief in a woman's control over her own body. If you don't, don't even talk to me.
And no, Plan B is not pleasant. But let me tell you something fellas, neither is birth control for the most part either. But you know what's more unpleasant: unwanted pregnancies. So, unless you anti-feminists are willing to create a way to carry the embryo in a man's body, please, STFU and stop refusing to give us medicine.
I could only read through about ten of the comments before I had to stop. But, I can see the wheels grinding and can imagine how this will be interpreted by the far right:
1) Plan B is too painful to be an OTC medicine
2) It doesn't work.
To which, I must insert some knowledge into the fold. Knowledge which, any woman who has had a decent sex-ed class (a dying breed, I know), knows.
Plan B is effective if taken within 72 hours of the sexual activity, but this 72 hour window comes with limitations.
Ovulation occurs on a cycle. Plan B operates by interupting ovulation via an extra high dose of progesterone. If you've already ovulated, there is evidence that Plan B actually encourages ovulation (which, if you've had enough reproductive bio courses, should make sense to you --- that's the main function of progesterone during pregnancy!).
Okay, now if you look at hormones within the cycle, one can predict when you'll ovulate by knowing the last day of your period. It typically happens at the midpoint of the "normal" 3 week cycle before the next start of menstruation. Notice I said typically. Not everyone has a three week cycle. Also, some people have aberrant ovulation --- point of fact, my mother discovered after having issues getting pregnant that she ovulates near the end of her cycle. I've heard from friends who's mothers found the opposite.
So, if you have sex and you ovulate prior to being able to procure Plan B.....well, you're out of luck. Of course, if you have sex more than three days after you ovulate, you don't need Plan B. Sadly, even for a single woman, that changes from month to month as to the exact day. And for a number of women, we don't know if we've ovulated (some women reporting feeling a sharp back cramp when they do. Some).
So to review: Plan B does not cause abortions. It prevents egg release. No fertilization occurs, ergo no abortion. If Plan B is taken after ovulation, Plan B actually encourages implatation of the new embryo (I'm going to spell that out for the hard to convince anti-science types: IT WILL ENCOURAGE PREGNANCY).
This is why it is imperative that Plan B be easily available. At least, if you have any belief in a woman's control over her own body. If you don't, don't even talk to me.
And no, Plan B is not pleasant. But let me tell you something fellas, neither is birth control for the most part either. But you know what's more unpleasant: unwanted pregnancies. So, unless you anti-feminists are willing to create a way to carry the embryo in a man's body, please, STFU and stop refusing to give us medicine.
