Would Mike Huckabee try to ban the pill? (US Centric)

[redstar826]

(for folks outside of the US, Mike Huckabee is currently running to be the Republican Party's nominee for President

Comments

[lust_lizard86]

That seems like a completely illogical argument. HBC prevents ovulation therefore preventing fertilization. Amirite?!

I'm having a hard time keeping obscenities from falling out of my mouth all over the place right about now. This is bullshit.

[creativetypes]

i think the pro-life movement is an obscenity in itself. truly disgusting.

[snugglebitch]

Nothing wrong with being "pro-life". I think "anti-choice" was the word you were looking for.

[meredith_mae]

It does over 90% of the time. It also thins the uterine lining so that it's harder for an egg to implant in case one is released, and thickens cervical mucous, which makes it hard for sperm to find it, too.

But we can't take the chance that one might slip through! Because God doesn't like these newfangled medical thingies! (Even though some medical professionals estimate about 80% of all fertilized eggs simply fail to implant, with no one being the wiser, or else implant and then miscarry within days or weeks, again, with a woman not usually noticing anything except perhaps a heavier than normal period.)

[celesteh]

I read recently that there's no medical evidence that the pill prevents implantation. Doctors have speculated that it might be the case, but it's far from established through any scientific means and, iirc, evidence is against it.

This speculation has been taken as gospel truth by the anti-choice crowd because they so desperately want it to be true.

I wish I had a reference at hand . . .

[rosehiptea]

I read the same thing but I don't have a reference either unfortunately. But I think it's true, as far as that no one knows for certain how the Pill works, at least in every case.

[kathygnome]

I don't think the Huckster is big on that medicine stuff. Too close to that anti-God biology for his tastes.

[frolicnaked]

This pamphlet (PDF) from Population Reports can give you the results of some studies for emergency contraception, at least. Basically, what data seems to show is that when EC is taken too late to delay ovulation, pregnancies did happen -- in large enough numbers to account for the overall failure rate of the medication.

It's fairly reasonable to suggest, then, that at least progestin-only contraceptive would function the same way since they're the same hormones only in lesser quantities.

[blackwinterbyrd]

some medical professionals? try all molecular biologists.
and the word that jumped out at me was believe. Belief has no place in scientific discourse. they believe it causes abortion? believe?!?!??

[meredith_mae]

It's kind of like my reaction to creationists, who think that there Charles Darwin was wrong because God done created the planet in 7 days, approximately 6,000 years ago, according to the bible. Um, sorry, but your made up "beliefs" that fly in the face of scientific theory are just that - beliefs. Which the scientific community should then feel free to mock based on the fact that people who "think" abortion might occur if an egg fails to implant have several less graduate degrees and many years less time spent doing research than the people who actually know these things.

[lavendersparkle]

Well, the thing is that most formed of contraception way work in a number of ways and there isn't conclusive scientific evidence about the extent to which they prevent the implantation of a zygote, or even if they do that at all

[frolicnaked]

Copper IUDs are certainly capable of preventing the implantation of a zygote, which is why they can be used as emergency birth control for a longer period than plan B.

Curious, but do you happen to have a source for this? As far as I knew, there was no hard data on copper IUDs preventing implantation of a fertilized ovum under any circumstances. Also, the window on a copper IUD as EC is 5 days, the same as that of Plan B.

[lavendersparkle]

I'm sorry, I don't know. In the UK, where I live, ECP is only advised up to 72 hours after unprotected sex and IUDs can be proscibed up to 5 days after unprotected sex. I don't know why there's a difference across the Atlantic.

[roseofjuly]

I don't think the window is substantially different. Here in the U.S. (or at least my part of it), EC is recommended for 120 hours, but it is noted (like in the UK) that after 72 hours the effective goes down. I think originally in the U.S. it was recommended for only 72 hours (I don't have a source, but I remember being told this during freshman orientation in 2004) and later it was extended, but I'm not completely sure of that.

[frolicnaked]

My only thought on that is since Plan B is speculated to work by suppressing the surge of luteinizing hormone (PDF) that triggers ovulation, which means that it wouldn't work if taken too far into the ovulatory process. However, since there is evidence that copper IUDs impair ova as well as sperm prior to ovulation, a copper IUD could theoretically be effective EC even on the day of ovulation.

But no, I'm not aware of any direct evidence that copper IUDs do, under any circumstances of insertion, prevent implantation of fertilized ova. I'm aware that it's been theorized, but I haven't seen any data where this actually plays out.