[InchoateHand]

No, Plan B is entirely unrelated to RU 486. It cannot terminate a pregnancy. It would have essentially no effect on a pregnant woman past the first 72-96 hours after conception.


Improving women's access to emergency contraception does not increase women's reliance on it as a primary method of birth control. Women who were given ECPs to take home used other birth control methods at the same rate as women who did not have the pills in their medicine cabinets. Women who had the pills at home were more likely to use emergency contraception once. But they were not more likely to use it repeatedly. Women who had home access to ECPs used the method correctly 98 percent of the time and had fewer unintended pregnancies than those who did not have ECPs at home (Glasier & Baird, 1998).

Glasier, Anna & David Baird. (1998). "The Effects of Self-Administering Emergency Contraception." New England Journal of Medicine, 339(1), 1-4.

A study of adolescent mothers examined the impact of giving teenagers ECPs before they need them. One group of teen mothers received education about ECPs and were given an advance supply of the pills. Another comparison group received only education about ECPs. Eighty-five percent of the group that received the pills used ECPs, as compared to only 19 percent of the education-only group. The group that received ECPs was not more likely to report having unprotected sex within the six months following receipt of the pills (Belzer, et al., 2003).
Belzer, Marvin, et al. (2003). "Advanced Supply of Emergency
Contraception for Adolescent Mothers Increased Utilization without Reducing Condom or Primary Contraception Use." Journal of Adolescent Health, 32(2), 122-123


The FDAs advisory committee approved the application twice. A large body of literature points to the safety and efficacy of ECs. There is no reason not to make them readily available, and they reduce abortions. Whats not to love?