What Women Need to Know About Plan B One-Step
In December 2022, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced a change to the label of the emergency contraceptive drug Plan B One-Step.
Specifically, it removed the warning that Plan B One-Step, which primarily aims to prevent ovulation, may also cause embryonic deaths by altering the endometrium to prevent implantation.
"This change was enabled by semantic gymnastics. To make the claim that Plan B does not end a pregnancy, the FDA used the ACOG-altered definition of "conception", which is completion of implantation. Under this definition, "pregnancy" begins when the embryo completes implantation in the uterus. This means that any embryonic death that Plan B One-Step might cause prior to implantation would not be technically classified as an abortion. Because of the use of this deceptive language, the more scientifically accurate term is "embryocidal" which means it kills embryos by preventing the embryo from implanting.
Also, the FDA claims that their decision was based on a lack of evidence for Plan B One-Step's abortifacient potential. That is why they focus on Plan B One-Step taken after ovulation. However, the FDA does not comment at all about what happens when a woman takes Plan B One-Step BEFORE ovulation. Taken BEFORE ovulation, Plan B One-Step may prevent ovulation, but it can also affect how a woman's body makes progesterone, and thus whether or not an embryo can survive to complete implantation."
This post is a guest blog by Dr. Donna Harrison, CEO of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists (AAPLOG). Read to the bottom of the article for Dr. Harrison's full bio.