{"id":1706,"date":"2012-11-29T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2012-11-29T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.catholicnewsagency.com\/news\/support-for-teen-emergency-contraception-access-deemed-foolish\/"},"modified":"2012-11-29T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2012-11-29T00:00:00","slug":"support-for-teen-emergency-contraception-access-deemed-foolish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/catholicnews\/2012\/11\/support-for-teen-emergency-contraception-access-deemed-foolish\/","title":{"rendered":"Support for teen emergency contraception access deemed ‘foolish’"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Denver, Colo., Nov 28, 2012 \/ 05:00 pm (CNA<\/a>).- Doctors and pro-life advocates warn that the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation of emergency contraceptives for teenage girls promotes unwise and \u201crisky behaviors.\"<\/p>\n

\t\u201cIt is beyond belief that the AAP would make this statement which is not in the best interest of teens \u2026 but in fact encourages them to initiate sexual activity and to do more risky behaviors. It's very foolish,\u201d Doctor Donna Harrison told CNA on Nov. 27.<\/p>\n

\tA policy statement released Nov. 26 by the American Academy of Pediatrics aims to \u201cencourage routine counseling and advance emergency-contraception prescription as 1 part of a public health strategy to reduce teen pregnancy.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThis recommendation is disconcerting to pro-life health care professionals because at least one method of emergency contraception, known as ulipristal or ella, can work by inducing abortion.<\/p>\n

\tHarrison, who is the director of research and public policy for the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, stated that \u201cella clearly can end a pregnancy that's already implanted in the mother's womb \u2013 it is clearly capable of killing an unborn child.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cPro-life doctors will not prescribe ella, as an issue of conscience,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\tHarrison also raised concern about the safety of teenage girls who take ella.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cBecause ella is a drug like RU-486,\u201d her organization is \u201cvery concerned about the misuse of this drug for abortions, and what we see with women who use RU-486 is haemorrhage and fatal bacterial infections.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cAnd we know that ella has not been tested in young girls. The testing was just in women over 18, so we have no safety data about young girls using this powerful drug.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe other major drug discussed by the American Academy of Pediatrics' policy statement is levonorgestrel, or Plan B.<\/p>\n

\tAccording to Harrison, the descriptions from the manufacturer and the FDA both note that Plan B has \u201ca mechanism of action that can also prevent the embryo implanting, so that also ends the life of an unborn child.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHarrison pointed out that \u201ccontraception\u201d is generally understood to work before fertilization, but that these \u201cemergency contraceptives\u201d can kill an embryo.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThat becomes a pro-life issue \u2026 are you willing to take the life of another human being? Drugs that work after fertilization we don't do, because we don't kill our second patient, who is the embryo-fetus who's conceived inside the mother.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tPopulation Research Institute president Steven Mosher raised similar concerns about the abortifacient nature of emergency contraception, as well as fears about conscience protection for Catholic physicians.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cThe AAP statement nonetheless asserts that pediatricians have an ethical responsibility to 'inform\/educate about availability and access to emergency-contraception services.' There is no ethical basis for this assertion which, if enforced, would violate the conscience of all Catholic and many Christian physicians,\u201d Mosher wrote Nov. 27.<\/p>\n

\tGiving emergency contraceptives to teenage girls has in studies been shown to not decrease pregnancies or sexual activity, according to Harrison. She also said that \u201cit does lead to an increase\u201d in sexually transmitted diseases.<\/p>\n

\t\u201cSo to give underage girls, for an organization that claims it is interested in the health of young girls, is a really stupid thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tHarrison believes that the recommendation will end up encouraging \u201ca lot of young girls to initiate sexual activity, and get into a sexually active relationship that they find later they can't back out of, and that's the stupidity.\u201d<\/p>\n

\tThe American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendations \u201cwould be devastating, from a public health perspective,\u201d Leslee Unruh, founder of National Abstinence Clearinghouse, told CNA Nov. 28.<\/p>\n

\tRather than providing teens with pharmaceuticals, Unruh said teens should be taught about \u201cthe real meaning of love and intimacy and bonding.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cLove is the better answer,\u201d she said, \u201cthey will see chemicals aren't the answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

\t\u201cI believe it would be devastating for young men and women who would go that route.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n<\/a>\n<\/div>\n

<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Denver, Colo., Nov 28, 2012 \/ 05:00 pm (CNA).- Doctors and pro-life advocates warn that the American Academy of Pediatrics' recommendation of emergency contraceptives for teenage girls promotes unwise and “risky behaviors."<\/p>\n

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