Abortion Drug EllaOne Concerns Pro-Life Advocates, Gets FDA Hearing Soon

National   |   Steven Ertelt   |   May 28, 2010   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

Abortion Drug EllaOne Concerns Pro-Life Advocates, Gets FDA Hearing Soon

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
May 28
, 2010

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) — The relatively new abortion drug ellaOne still concerns pro-life advocates, who are monitoring the Food and Drug Administration and whether it will allow the drug to come to the United States from Europe. Billed by abortion backers as a morning after pill, the drug works much differently.

While the morning after pill has the ability to cause an abortion when used after implantation ellaOne, also known as Ulipristal, works as an abortion drug.

That’s because the drug is meant to be taken by women longer after sexual intercourse — not just 24-48 hours but as much as five days later. At that point, if a pregnancy has occurred, the drug will undoubtedly cause an abortion and kill a unique human being immediately after conception.

Bradley Mattes, the director of Life Issues Institute, talks more about the problems associated with ellaOne.

"Unveiled in Europe last year, ellaOne is classified as emergency contraception, but it works much like the abortion pill RU 486 by blocking progesterone from reaching the womb. Both drugs ultimately kill an unborn baby," he explains.

Mattes says abortion advocates can get away with calling the drug a morning after pill that prevents pregnancy or conception because a physicians group pro-abortion activists control has redefined the medical terms.

"As word starts to spread, you’ll likely hear—much like we did with the Plan B Pill—that ellaOne only prevents pregnancies," Mattes adds.

"But keep in mind, the official American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology definition of pregnancy is not conception (union of sperm and egg), but implantation (attachment to the mother’s womb). These precious young babies are very much alive, but drug companies are discounting their first several days of life for the sake of extra cash," he said.

The researchers behind ellaOne use the word “embryotoxic” to describe the pill, which Mattes argues is a "scientific way of acknowledging that, yes, it kills babies." Abortion advocates also hail ellaOne as more effective than the morning after pill and "since ellaOne costs three times as much, you can bet they’re eager to push it down the throats of American women."

Mattes notes that studies on women showed the drug can abort an existing pregnancy after implantation.

Anna Glasier, of NHS Lothian in Edinburgh, led a study of more than 5,500 women in the UK published online in The Lancet medical journal. It found fewer pregnancies among those women given the ellaOne drug within five days of intercourse. And for women who took the drug between 3-5 days after having sex, only women taking the traditional morning after pill became pregnant.

"This is a big step further than the abortifacient effects of emergency contraception. The goal of those promoting ellaOne is to first get it approved by the FDA for distribution by prescription, then later on, over the counter—just like they did with emergency contraception," Mattes said. "The ultimate goal is that abortion pills will be given to everyone who asks, without a prescription."

On June 17, an FDA committee will hold a public hearing on the drug and determine whether to allow it in the US.

"Advocates of abortion want to blur the line between abortion and contraception, but there is a growing contingent of Americans who are ready to combat that lie," Mattes said.

Dr. Donna Harrison, the president of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists agrees with the assessment of ellaOne (Ulipristal) as an abortion drug.

"I think it’s important that the pro-life community recognize exactly what Ulipristal is, and how it works, so they are not fooled," she told LifeNews.com in January.

Harrison is also concerned the drug will be able to be sold over the counter in the same way the Plan B morning after pill is sold without a doctor’s prescription or consultation.

In England, the ellaOne drug is sold via prescription and costs almost three times as much as the morning after pill.

Glasier told the Daily Mail she doesn’t think the Ellaone drug will become as popular because women like the convenience of getting the morning after pill at a pharmacy without the prescription Ellaone requires.

But if that changes in England or becomes available without a prescription in the United States or other countries, those pro-life fears will be confirmed.

Related web sites:
Life Issues Institute – https://www.lifeissues.org
American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists – https://www.aaplog.org

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