Myth Busting Monday – The morning after pill is a ‘DIY abortion’

Every Monday EFC busts myths and take names, cutting through the misinformation, disinformation, and straight up nonsense to bring you the facts.

In yesterday's Daily Mail, Peter Hitchens frothed;

'There is no better symbol of the squalid New Britain than the choice of Christmas to make the ‘morning-after pill’ easier to get. Now this do-it-yourself abortion for people who are not just feckless but incompetent too is to be given out by post, in advance (surely it should be renamed the ‘night-before’ pill, in that case?). Under-age girls will easily be able to get it. Like all such measures, it will be followed by more under-age sex and more abortions. And nobody will make the connection.'

We are getting sick and tired of national newspapers (and in this case, well known journalists!) touting the myth that taking emergency hormonal contraception (aka the morning after pill) is an abortion. We’ve posted about this myth in the past but it just doesn’t seem to go away. In fact, the Telegraph are guilty of posting similar just last week.

For some, there is a belief that pregnancy begins at fertilisation, when the sperm meets the egg. So yes, those people may well consider the taking of contraception which can act to prevent implantation of the fertilised egg as ending a pregnancy, akin to an abortion. However, what is rarely made clear in such missives against accessible contraception is that this is a belief. Legally and medically, pregnancy begins following implantation of the fertilised egg meaning that abortion and contraception are different things.

From the British Medical Association’s ‘Abortion Time Limits’ paper:

‘What is abortion?
The term 'abortion' is used throughout this paper to refer to the induced termination of an established pregnancy (i.e. after implantation). It does not include the use of emergency hormonal contraception which the High Court has confirmed is not an abortifacient. All current methods of emergency contraception work prior to implantation and therefore are not abortifacients.’

Myth-Busting Monday – ‘The morning-after abortion pill’

C’mon Michele Bachmann. Really? Even EFC, staunch defenders of The Facts, are getting sick of mythbusting this one. At a recent Tea Party debate Republican representative Bachmann talked about the ‘morning-after abortion pill’. There’s no such thing. She seems to be conflating the ‘morning after pill’ (emergency hormonal contraception) and the ‘abortion pill’ (medical abortion). In fact, the former is taken to try to prevent pregnancy, an abortion is the termination of an existing pregnancy. We’ve busted this one before, but it’s still being touted by anti-choice groups in the UK.

This isn’t the first medical issue Bachmann has slipped up on. Her claims about the HPV vaccine causing ‘mental retardation’ have led to a $11,000 reward being offered for anyone who can provide any evidence to back them up. Go science!

Myth-busting Monday 'Emergency contraception is the same as abortion'

Every Monday EFC busts myths and takes names, cutting through the misinformation, disinformation, and straight up nonsense to bring you the facts.

Emergency hormonal contraception (EHC), also known as the “morning-after pill”, can be taken up to 72 hours after unprotected sex to help prevent pregnancy (though there is also a new pill called EllaOne that can be taken up to 5 days later- ask your pharmacist!).

The key word here is “prevent”- EHC does not cause an abortion. Some people believe that pregnancy begins when the sperm and egg meet, but this is not medically or legally considered to be the case. In fact the High Court has confirmed that pregnancy legally begins when a fertilised egg implants in the lining of a woman’s uterus (womb). EHC works by keeping your ovaries from releasing eggs, keeping the sperm and egg from meeting, or keeping the fertilised egg from implanting, depending on when you take it. If you are already pregnant, taking EHC does not harm the pregnancy.

People who oppose the provision of a comprehensive range of contraception for women would like EHC to be governed by the same laws as abortion (i.e. needing the consent of two doctors). This would cause delays that would prevent women being able to take it on time.