EllaOne – a pill that claims to be ’emergency contraception’ – can in fact act as an abortion-inducing drug, pro-life doctors have warned.
The drug has been on sale in the UK for a year and is widely promoted as a five-day version of the morning-after pill.
But it only went on sale in America earlier this month and pro-life doctors in the US have launched an information video to show how it works.
Watch an information video on EllaOne
Prevent
In the video Dr Donna Harrison explains how EllaOne can prevent an embryo from receiving nourishment from its mother’s womb, thereby aborting the pregnancy.
Dr Harrison also warns that the drug’s chemical composition and function are nearly identical to a commonly used abortion drug known as RU-486.
A coalition of American pro-life groups has now launched a campaign aimed at getting pharmacies to boycott the controversial drug which was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration earlier this year.
Denying
A campaign flyer produced by the Family Research Council cautions: “By labelling ella an EC [emergency contraceptive], the FDA is denying informed consent to women who will take ella AND to pharmacists who will not know that ella can cause an abortion.
“Pharmacists who are asked to fill prescriptions for ella have an ethical right to know that the drug may cause an abortion and women desiring to purchase ella have a right to know it may cause an abortion.”
EllaOne has previously faced intense criticism from pro-lifers in the UK.
Pregnancy
Josephine Quintavalle of Pro-Life Alliance has said: “If you take a morning-after pill within 24 hours, there is always the argument that the sperm may not have fertilised the egg by then, meaning pregnancy has not yet happened.
“But if this pill works for five days there is no argument. This is not a contraceptive, it is an abortive agent.”
Family values groups have also warned that the new drug will encourage people to engage in casual sex whilst exposing themselves to sexually transmitted diseases.
Drug
Norman Wells, of campaign group Family Education Trust, said: “International research evidence shows that making the morning-after pill more readily available doesn’t make the slightest difference to unintended pregnancy and abortion rates.
“The easy availability of the morning-after pill has a damaging social effect, by lulling young people in particular into a false sense of security, encouraging a more casual attitude to sex, and exposing them to increased risk of sexually transmitted infections.”