preview

Essay on Emergency Contraceptives

Good Essays

Emergency Contraceptives

Despite the age-old belief that the purpose of sexual interaction is to reproduce, people have attempted to practice means of contraception for thousands of years. In Europe, large segments of the population began to use various methods to regulate conception, pregnancy, or births in the latter part of the eighteenth century. During the nineteenth century, the widespread desire for more forms effective means of controlling the number of births resulted in the development of numerous devices and or medications that provided both men and women with opportunities to use contraceptives. With the increased demand and practice of contraception, the medical community needed to provide the population with the …show more content…

The estrogen/progestin and RU486 both accomplish pregnancy prevention by not allowing a fertilized zygote to implant on the uterine walls and grow to development. However, the methods behind the drugs differ. The estrogen/progestin regiment prevents pregnancy in three different ways depending on the time taken. It can prevent ovulation, inhibit fertilization, or alter the endometrium (uterine lining) thereby stopping implantation, but it cannot affect an implanted zygote (Federal). However, the effects of RU486 vary considerably. It alters the endometrium so that no implantation can occur, and if implantation has already occurred, a spontaneous abortion or miscarriage will occur (Piaggio, et al.) Therefore, RU486 is both a postcoital contraceptive and an abortifacient-agent that causes abortion. With the emergence of these two forms of birth control, many groups have begun to re-evaluate the actions and implications of all postcoital contraceptive agents. The controversy is rooted in whether the administration of these types of medications is the solutions to "unprotected sex" or a quick, unsafe form of abortion. Participants in this heated debate come from the medical and the pro-life/pro-choice factions of the political community. Most physicians and governmental agencies support the ideas of postcoital contraceptives because they feel that these methods/medications allow people to prevent unwanted pregnancies in

Get Access