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"Plan" drug not all it's cracked up to "B"

By Scott Tibbs, February 01, 2005

To the Editor:

The February 1 Indiana Daily Student carried an advertisement for Plan B, a form of emergency contraception. Plan B's web site states that:

  • "There is no evidence that Plan B would harm… a developing fetus."
  • "(Plan B) is an emergency contraceptive and should not be confused with RU486 or any other abortifacient."
  • "Plan B is a contraceptive and cannot terminate an established pregnancy".

But, despite these claims, I would advise anyone considering using Plan B to consider one simple statement on the web page: "(Plan B) may inhibit implantation by altering the endometrium."

For people who believe life begins at fertilization, this is an important distinction. When a sperm cell joins an egg, a new human being is created, with all of the building blocks necessary for that life to grow and develop through the various stages of life. Given time, nutrition and shelter, that life will proceed just as all of us have. Everyone who is reading this letter was, at one time, in the embryonic stage of life.

Duramed, the makers of Plan B, claims that the drug "cannot terminate an established pregnancy", but they define "pregnancy" as the implantation of an embryo in a woman's uterus. If denied the ability to implant, the newly-created life will perish. By Duramed's own definition, Plan B may terminate a life. For many, this is not morally acceptable.

Women deserve to know all of the facts about drugs that are advertised. Duramed's attempt to cloud the facts by focusing on the clinical definition of pregnancy instead of the potential that their product may destroy a human life does not serve the population of Indiana University.