Make the distinction: EC prevents pregnancy
With the recent federal Food and Drug Administration approval of the abortion drug mifepristone, it is important for providers to make a clear distinction between it and emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs), says Elisa Wells, coordinator of the Consortium for Emergency Contraception. The consortium is an international working group whose focus is to make EC a standard part of reproductive health care around the globe.
Mifepristone was formerly known as RU-486. It is marketed in the United States as Mifeprex by Danco Laboratories in New York City. The two therapies are entirely different and it is important not to confuse them, she notes. Wells points to information released by the consortium that states ECPs are true contraceptives in that they prevent pregnancy, often by delaying or inhibiting ovulation. ECPs will not cause an abortion if a woman is already pregnant at the time she takes the pills.
Mifepristone causes abortion
Mifepristone, by contrast, has been registered in the United States and in other countries as an abortion pill. Women can use mifepristone, typically accompanied by another type of drug known as a prostaglandin, up to seven weeks (or nine, as in the United Kingdom and elsewhere) into a confirmed pregnancy. Used this way, mifepristone clearly causes an abortion.
Confusion between the two drugs can arise because mifepristone has been studied for a number of indications related to women’s health, including daily contraception, emergency contraception, cervical ripening, and labor induction.
Mifepristone is not registered anywhere in the world for emergency contraception, and vice versa, none of the methods of emergency contraception that are registered anywhere in the world will work to cause abortion — all of them prevent pregnancy.
Make it clear
The following explanation, provided by the Reproductive Health Technologies Project in Washington, DC, an EC advocacy organization, might be of further help, suggests Wells:
What Mifeprex is: Mifeprex is a noninvasive, safe and effective option for women to terminate their pregnancy early. Mifeprex blocks a hormone — progesterone — that is needed for a pregnancy to continue. When followed by another medicine — misoprostol — Mifeprex ends an unwanted pregnancy. Mifeprex was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on Sept. 28, 2000, and can be taken to end a pregnancy from the time a woman knows she is pregnant up to seven weeks (49 days) after the beginning of her last menstrual period.
Mifeprex will not be distributed through pharmacies. The drug will be available only to physicians who establish an account with Danco Laboratories, the manufacturer of the drug.
What Mifeprex is not: Mifeprex is not the "morning-after pill" or a form of emergency contraception. Emergency contraceptive pills (ECPs) are the most common method of preventing pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse. Plan B (marketed by Women’s Capital Corp. of Bellevue, WA) and Preven (marketed by Gynétics of Belle Mead, NJ), the two types of ECPs approved by the FDA, are taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex and available with a prescription from a pharmacy or clinic. The use of emergency contraceptive pills does not cause an abortion.
Medical science defines the beginning of pregnancy as the implantation of a fertilized egg in the lining of a woman’s uterus. Implantation begins five to seven days after fertilization. Emergency contraceptive pills work before implantation. If a woman is already pregnant, emergency contraceptive pills do not work.
The bottom line: If a woman wants to prevent pregnancy after sex, she can use Preven or Plan B. If a woman wants to terminate an unwanted pregnancy at an early stage, she can use Mifeprex.
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