{"id":770,"date":"2002-03-19T12:52:24","date_gmt":"2002-03-19T20:52:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=770"},"modified":"2002-03-19T12:52:24","modified_gmt":"2002-03-19T20:52:24","slug":"emergency-contraception-a-flawed-choice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=770","title":{"rendered":"Emergency contraception a flawed choice"},"content":{"rendered":"

London Free Press<\/em>
\nMarch 19, 2002<\/p>\n

Reproduced with permission<\/em><\/p>\n

Sharon\u00a0 Osvald<\/p>\n

Tomorrow,\u00a0the first day of spring, a coalition of American national, state and local organizations will take Walt Disney’s Bambi’s notion of “being twitter pated” to a new level.<\/p>\n

March 20 is the kick-off to their first annual “back up your birth control” campaign. On that day, women all over the U.S. will be asked, regardless of their need, to request emergency contraceptives (EC) from their doctors. Doctors will promise to tell\u00a0their patients about EC; pharmacists will talk to their customers\u00a0about it and activists will lobby both state and federal legislatures in favour of more access and awareness of EC.<\/p>\n

Similar campaigns to support what many call the morning pill have been\u00a0taking place for a couple of years with radio ads, billboards picturing a broken condom and other literature. The Web site has an\u00a0image of a young working woman flexing her bicep with a heart-shaped tattoo saying EC.<\/p>\n

Preven and Plan B are the two emergency contraceptives approved in\u00a0Canada, but according to pharmacists I’ve talked to, many doctors have been prescribing concentrated birth-control hormones within 72 hours\u00a0of sex since the 1970s. If taken in time, it prevents fertilized eggs\u00a0from implanting on the uterine wall. Advocates for EC call it “a\u00a0\u00a0safe, effective back-up birth control method that can prevent pregnancy after unprotected intercourse or contraceptive\u00a0failure.” Opponents, however, call it an “abortifacient,” believing conception begins at fertilization and the idea of contraception after the fact is nothing more than wishful thinking.<\/p>\n

I am certain the intentions of the majority involved in this initiative are good. After all, even the most pro-choice person knows the fewer full-fledged abortions that take place, the better for\u00a0everyone. Consider the horrible state of the 15-year-old Brampton girl\u00a0recently charged with second-degree murder after hiding her pregnancy\u00a0and injuring her baby girl in an unassisted home birth. In contrast, EC pills seem such a neat little compromise. More radical feminists embrace EC as a tool to empower women against the evil oppressor, men,\u00a0who make us pregnant in the first place and get off scot-free.
\nHowever, aside from my personal convictions about when life begins,\u00a0this campaign and others like it give me the willies. This is because,\u00a0in the words of Canadian organization, The Protection of Conscience\u00a0Project, they are so “well-organized, well-connected and\u00a0well-funded” and “may directly impact some conscientious\u00a0objectors, especially if activists decide to target objectors or\u00a0objecting facilities in order to get media coverage or to initiate\u00a0complaints of professional misconduct.” In short, these groups bully those who don’t see the world from their point of view and\u00a0trample on objectors’ rights and freedoms.<\/p>\n

Secondly, it seems to me the message of emergency back-up plans is\u00a0cheap. I mean, if a group is going to take time, energy and resources\u00a0to imprint a message into the psyche of young women, is this the best message we have to give them? Why not teach them to respect themselves, to be responsible for their actions (even mistakes) and\u00a0how to form monogamous, lasting accountable relationships, instead of ones that create an emergency if you become pregnant when\u00a0pre-intercourse birth control fails? Why don’t we hand out planned parenting post cards that say, “Don’t waste yourself on a one-night stand,” instead of, “You have 72 hours to erase\u00a0last night.” Rather than simply empowering women to be in charge\u00a0of their bodies, why not teach men and women what a wonderful thing sex can be in the right context? Maybe even, heaven forbid, encourage\u00a0\u00a0them to wait? Then we might not only have less unwanted pregnancies,\u00a0but also women who are emotionally healthy and truly empowered.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

London Free Press March 19, 2002 Reproduced with permission Sharon\u00a0 Osvald Tomorrow,\u00a0the first day of spring, a coalition of American national, state and local organizations will take Walt Disney’s Bambi’s notion of “being twitter pated” to a new level. March 20 is the kick-off to their first annual “back up your birth control” campaign. On … Continue reading “Emergency contraception a flawed choice”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5432,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[88,32,4,247],"tags":[277,283,323],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birth-control","category-canada","category-commentary","category-morning-after-pill","tag-plan-b","tag-preven","tag-sharon-osvald"],"yoast_head":"\r\nEmergency contraception a flawed choice - Protection of Conscience Project News<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\r\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=770\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Emergency contraception a flawed choice - Protection of Conscience Project News\" \/>\r\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"London Free Press March 19, 2002 Reproduced with permission Sharon\u00a0 Osvald Tomorrow,\u00a0the first day of spring, a coalition of American national, state and local organizations will take Walt Disney’s Bambi’s notion of “being twitter pated” to a new level. 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