What Plan B prevents.

Byline: The Register-Guard

There's good news for pharmacists who fear that filling prescriptions for emergency contraceptives may be contributing to a possible abor- tion.

New studies by the Population Council, published in the scientific journals Contraception and Human Reproduction, found that levono- gestrel - marketed as Plan B - does not interfere with fertilized eggs. It prevents pregnancy by suppressing ovulation. If a fertilized egg has already implanted in the uterus, Plan B has no effect and does not terminate the pregnancy.

This is also important information for people who mistakenly believe that Plan B is really an abortion pill. It is no such thing, and it shouldn't be confused with mifepristone, known as Mifeprex or RU-486, a drug that can induce an abortion.

Plan B is emergency contraception that works much like an extra-strength birth control pill. It must be taken in two doses, the first within 72 hours after intercourse, followed by another tablet 12 hours later.

Because sperm can live for up to five days, women can get pregnant if they have unprotected sex before ovulation. Plan B works by suppressing the hormones that signal ovaries to release eggs. If a woman takes Plan B - often called the "morning after pill" - after an egg has been released, it won't interfere with fertilization or jeopardize a pregnancy.

It has never been completely clear how Plan B got sucked into the abortion vortex. Perhaps anti-abortion groups fighting the introduction of mifepristone pills in the United States were uncomfortable allowing public access to any post-coital pill that prevents pregnancy.

Without any solid science to back them up, Plan B opponents began a low-level whispering campaign among social conservatives criticizing emergency contraception. They sounded the thoroughly debunked morality alarm that easy access to Plan B would promote promiscuity, and they began insinuating that the drug "interfered" with conception and pregnancy.

Meanwhile, in early 2004, a panel of Food and Drug Administration scientific advisers studied all the credible research and voted 24-3 to recommend over-the-counter sales of Plan B. But by this time, Plan B opponents had been able to raise enough doubts among conservatives in Congress that then-FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan took the extraordinary step of overruling the advisory panel.

Lost in the opponents' disinformation campaign was the real purpose for providing nonprescription access to Plan B: It prevents unwanted pregnancies and reduces the need for abortions. Research indicates that widespread availability of Plan B in the United States could prevent up to 1.7 million unintended pregnancies and 800,000 abortions a year.

Now, studies have confirmed that Plan B does not interfere with fertilization or with an implanted fertilized egg. There is no downside. This is a drug that will significantly reduce the demand for abortions.

There would be no debate about whether anti-abortion pharmacists should have the right to refuse to fill prescriptions for Plan B if the FDA had simply followed the overwhelming advice of its expert advisers and made it available over the counter. Until the FDA corrects its mistake, countless unwanted pregnancies will be terminated for lack of access to emergency contraception.