The Following Is A Public Service Announcement...

Plan B (The Morning After Pill) Is NOT RU-486 (The Abortion Pill)

Look.

I have two daughters.

One is now nine.

And the other is fifteen.

And if either of them ever needs, or even thinks they might need, Plan B I want them to be able to walk into any drugstore in the known universe, even if it is in the middle of the night, and buy the thing, no questions asked.

Why?

Because Plan B is a synthetic progesterone.

As such, the main way it works is by preventing ovulation.

Thus, the earlier you take it the more effective it is.

No if's....no ands.... and....most definitely.....no buts.

Here is the story, taken straight from the Journal of the American Medical Association:

When used immediately after unprotected sexual exposure, Plan B's contraceptive activity is evident within hours; delaying the first dose by 12 hours increases the odds of pregnancy by almost 50%, and its efficacy diminishes linearly with time.¹⁰ Much of the activity is gone by 72 hours, although there is some residual activity with delays in use of up to 120 hours.

And, when it comes to the health and well being of my daughters, I'm even willing to go so far as to say that I don't give a hoot-in-hell that there is a small chance that it might work, occasionally, by preventing the implantation of an early blastocyst.

Even if I did believe there actually is one.

A hell I mean.

OK?

_____
Written in response to all the offline Emails from the screamers that I have been receiving over the last few days because of a post I wrote called "Plan B - It's Not Just For Pharmacists Anymore" .
For anyone that needs help with this stuff, a guy at Princeton keeps a fantastic website that explains it all, both succinctly and in great detail.


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