Ella, Week After Birth Control Pill: A Boon for European Women, But Will It Make It to America?

[LynneSin]

Ella, Week After Birth Control Pill: A Boon for European Women, But Will It Make It to America?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/christiane-northrup/ella-week-after-birth-con_b_611895.html

The FDA is studying a new morning-after pill, commonly known as Ella, for approval in the United States. Ella is short for EllaOne, the brand name of the pill in Europe. It is effective for preventing pregnancy up to 120 hours following unprotected sex and was approved for use in 44 countries in early 2009. Though it is still a new drug and needs further study, I am hoping for rapid approval for prescription use. Why? Because the number one predictor of a woman's status worldwide is whether or not she has dominion over her fertility.

EllaOne is comprised of ulipristal acetate, an antiprogesterone drug that prevents pregnancy by delaying ovulation. Though ulipristal acetate has similarities in chemical action to mifepristone -- also known as RU 486 -- it is not intended for use as contraception or as a method of terminating an ongoing pregnancy. Clinical trials of both Plan B and Ella, published recently in the Lancet, showed that Ella prevented twice as many unwanted pregnancies as Plan B.

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Folks, this needs approved ASAP!!!

What's great about this birth control is it does NOT terminate a fertilize egg, just delays ovulation. From the rest of the article it seems it's working wonderfully over in Europe.

[rexcat]

1. There is a possibility that the FDA will approve the drug...

as long as the studies that are required to be conducted in the US show it to be safe and effective. That should not be hard to do since it is approved in the EU. The one good thing is the FDA will not be used by Obama's administration as a political tool as was done by Bush so approval will probably come sooner rather than later. I will bet anyone there will be a political firestorm when it is approved because the religious nut cases who are anti-choice will go ballistic.

[fl_dem]

2. This is great news!!

the more options available to women result in less unwanted pregnancies.

:kick:

[pscot]

3. This could almost eliminate abortion

if it were widely available. The religious community will hate it.

[LynneSin]

5. How can they hate it when it does not terminate a fertilized egg?

that's their issue - at least the Catholic.

This just delays ovulation so the sperm can die out before the egg arrives.

[pscot]

6. Is it too cynical to believe

that having the issue is as at as least important to the right to life people as saving the unborn? This has become a high stakes game with a lot of money and political power on the table.

[Xithras]

4. I was curious and did a little research. Not quite as effective as they'd have you think.

It works by delaying ovulation. If you have unprotected sex and haven't ovulated yet, it works well at delaying that ovulation until the risk of pregnancy passes. If you HAVE ovulated, the picture gets a bit murkier. The overall rate of pregnancy suppression among women who took the pill after unprotected sex was 60% in their own published tests. The remaining 40% of their test group either had abortions (some spontaneous, some surgical), or became pregnant and carried the fetus to term.

One big issue, and one I expect the fundies to exploit, is that it's a confirmed embryotoxin. If a woman takes Ella after becoming pregnant, it is likely to cause damage to the embryo, but isn't powerful enough to be an abortifacient. In many women this will cause spontaneous abortions, but not always. If the embryo survives the pill (and many do), the pill may cause the resulting fetus (and, if not aborted by other means, the eventual baby) to have birth defects. Because of this risk, the manufacturer requires that all prescriptions be preceded by a pregnancy test to ensure that it isn't given to women after fertilization has occurred.

Having more birth control options is always a good thing, but I don't know that this is quite the godsend that some of its supporters make it out to be.