Morning after pill does not reduce abortions in general, and increases abortions among teenagers

Madrid, Spain, Oct 13, 2004 / 22:00 pm

The head of the Department of Biopathology at La Fe Hospital in Valencia, Spain, Dr. Justo Aznar Lucea, reaffirmed this week the data on the abortifacient nature of the morning after pill, its failure to reduce the number of pregnancies, and its resulting in an increase in teenage pregnancy in countries where it is used.

In an interview with the newspaper La Razon, Aznar called the government proposal to distribute the drug free of charge in Spain “very wrong,” adding, “it will not have the supposed results of reducing the number of pregnancies and abortions among teenagers.”

According to Aznar, “the use of the pill will lead to a huge loss of human life.  It has been demonstrated in a significant number of cases that this pill prevents pregnancy by causing a change in the uterus, making implantation of the embryo impossible.  This is the taking of a human life, for which this pill should be categorized as abortifacient.”

Asked about the objections by some doctors who say the pill does not cause abortions, Aznar said, “It is true that some doctors claim pregnancy begins at implantation, and that therefore any action which prevents implantation cannot not be called abortifacient.  But the negative judgment this pill deserves is not because it terminates a pregnancy, but rather because it terminates a human life before it is implanted.”

Regarding the argument by defenders of the pill that it will help reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions, Aznar stated that “according to a recent article published in the magazine Contraception, it has been clearly demonstrated that the promotion of emergency contraception does not reduce the number of abortions.”

"This study, the most extensive such one to date, since it includes 17,800 women, compares the number of abortions in 1998 and 1999, when the pill was not being promoted, to the number of abortions in 2000 and 2001, when it was. Statistically it has been proven that there is no difference in the number of abortions between both periods,” Aznar said.

“Nor are there any differences between this group of women and other groups that were not encouraged to use the morning after pill.  What is more, during the time in which the use of the drug has begun to be consumed, in other countries and in Spain as well, teen pregnancies have not only not decreased, they have increased,” he added.