This week the US House of Representatives passed a bill giving veterans access to no-cost contraception through the Department of Veterans Affairs. The legislation passed with bipartisan support 245–181.

This bill intends to give Veterans access to birth control like all other Americans who have enjoyed free access to family planning services since the 2008 Affordable Care Act.

Green spoke on the House floor in opposition to the legislation. The speech is filled with incorrect statements and misinformation. No one is surprised anymore by Green’s nonsensical rants. She has mocked victims of the Parkland shooting and blamed California wildfires on Jewish space lasers.

Green even compared wearing a mask to prevent the spread of a respiratory virus during a pandemic to the Holocaust stating, “We can look back in a time in history where people were told to wear a gold star, and they were definitely treated like second-class citizens, so much so that they were put in trains and taken to gas chambers in Nazi Germany.”

Representative Green’s statements about Plan B and emergency contraception are simply incorrect and ill-informed. Here is what she said.

Green states, “contraception stops a woman from becoming pregnant. The Plan B pill kills a baby in the womb once a woman is already pregnant.” This statement is entirely false.

Plan B is the brand name of one form of emergency contraception. Emergency birth control prevents pregnancy and is not an abortion medication.

RU486 (Mifepristone) is a medication used to induce abortion. Abortion medication terminates a pregnancy and is not a form of emergency contraception.

Plan B and RU486 are not the same medication. One has nothing to do with the other.

Emergency contraception (EC) contains progesterone, a hormone produced naturally by the ovaries. It is often called “the morning after” pill. Common brands, such as Plan B, are available over the counter without a prescription.

Emergency contraception is formulated with a high dose of progesterone. This hormonal blast disrupts, delays, or prevents ovulation. When people take Plan B within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse, it reduces the risk of pregnancy by 70–80%. If a woman is already pregnant and takes Plan B, then nothing happens.

Emergency contraception is called Plan B and not Plan A for a reason. It reduces the risk of pregnancy and does not cause an abortion.

Here is a chart outlining the hormonal changes that occur during a menstrual cycle. The hormones must follow this particular pattern for the ovary to release an egg successfully.

Plan B emergency contraception sends a shock to the system through a high level of progesterone to disrupt or delay ovulation.

The high dose of progesterone in Plan B also thickens the cervical mucus creating a toxic environment for sperm. 

Plan B will not terminate an already established pregnancy. Plan B progesterone does not cause abortion.

Emergency contraception decreases the risk of pregnancy by inhibiting ovulation. If a person is already pregnant and conception has occurred, then Plan B will do nothing. It is too late for emergency contraception.

Taking emergency contraception after one is already pregnant will only add more progesterone to support the developing fetus.

Progesterone can be helpful in certain high-risk pregnancies. Obstetrician gynecologists and infertility doctors often give extra Progesterone to help prevent miscarriages.

Marjorie Taylor Green also stated, “Equal Access to Contraception for Veterans Act is not contraception, it’s providing with taxpayer dollars the ability for women to have an abortion.”

Once again, Taylor is wrong. Birth control methods do not work by causing abortions. In addition, Federal law bars the use of Medicaid funds for abortions through the Hyde Amendment.

Green got one thing right when she stated, “Words matter and their meanings need to be exactly clear.” 

I agree. I wish Green had paid attention in her junior high health class and learned the basics about human reproduction and contraception. 

The post Marjorie Taylor Green Needs a Primer on How Birth Control Works appeared first on Medika Life.

The problem is the male-dominant Missouri senators did not pay attention during their junior high health class. The Senators who want to control Missouri women seem to have no idea how contraception methods actually work.

The Kansas City Star detailed a heated debate in the Missouri legislature over contraceptive access, causing Obstetrician gynecologists, like me, to shake their heads at the lack of sexual health knowledge.

Here is the background of what triggered this debate.

Like many states, Missouri partially funds Medicaid, a federal program providing health access to low-income people, through a hospital tax. Most funding for Medicaid comes from the Federal Government, but states do have to pay a share.

Missouri’s $4 billion hospital tax is set to expire in September and must be renewed. The renewal of the current hospital tax has nothing to do with contraception coverage. The bill continues the hospital tax already in place, allowing the state to fund Medicaid and receive Federal dollars in return.

So how did access to birth control enter the debate on a bill that has nothing to do with contraception?

A group of senators is withholding support for the hospital tax renewal unless the state bans contraceptive methods that cause abortion. The problem is none of the birth control methods being debating cause abortions. Federal law bars the use of Medicaid funds for abortions through the Hyde Amendment.

Missouri is holding up Medicaid funding to block contraceptive methods that reduce unplanned pregnancies and reduce the number of abortions. 

 The problem is none of the methods in Missouri’s proposed ban cause abortions. Our views on abortion vary, but we must understand the fundamental science to have a meaningful discussion. 

Our country’s public policy and heated social media debates should at least be based on facts.

Plan B is not an abortion pill. Stop calling it that.

Plan B is the brand name of one form of emergency contraception. Emergency birth control prevents pregnancy and is not an abortion medication.

RU486 (Mifepristone) is a medication used to induce abortion. Abortion medication terminates a pregnancy and is not a form of emergency contraception. 

Plan B and RU486 are not the same medication. Plan B and RU486 are not the same things at all.

Emergency contraception (EC) contains progesterone, a hormone produced naturally by the ovaries. It is often called “the morning after” pill. Common brands, such as Plan B, are available over the counter without a prescription.

Emergency contraception is formulated with a high dose of progesterone. This hormonal blast disrupts, delays, or prevents ovulation. High-dose progesterone also thickens the cervical mucus creating a toxic environment for sperm. It will not terminate an already established pregnancy.

Progesterone does not cause abortion. Emergency contraception decreases the risk of pregnancy by inhibiting ovulation. If conception has already occurred, then it is too late for emergency contraception. 

Once pregnancy occurs, the ovary forms a type of ovary cyst called a corpus luteum. It produces progesterone to support the growing pregnancy. Taking emergency contraception will only add more progesterone to support the developing fetus.

Obstetrician gynecologists and infertility doctors often give extra Progesterone to high-risk pregnancies to help prevent miscarriages. 

Banning funding for Plan B will not reduce the number of abortions because it does not cause them in the first place. Plan B will not terminate an already established pregnancy. 

When people take Plan B within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse, it reduces the risk of pregnancy by 70–80%. If a woman is already pregnant and takes Plan B, then nothing happens. Emergency contraception is called Plan B and not Plan A for a reason.

IUDs (intrauterine devices) reduce abortions. They do not cause them. 

Abortion rates in the United States are at historic lows. The national drop in abortions coincided with the passage of the 2008 Affordable Care Act, which made contraception accessible without a copay.

Access to birth control improved. Unintended pregnancy, teen pregnancy, and abortion rates did not just decrease; they plummeted. 

Many public health experts credit the drop in abortion rates to the increased use of Long-acting reversible contraception methods (LARCS). 

Long-acting reversible contraception methods work for an extended period of time after a one-time insertion giving patients the confidence of years of protection. Examples of LARCs are IUDs (Intrauterine Device) and subdermal implants (Nexplanon).

An IUD is a small device inserted into the cavity of the uterus. There are currently five IUDs available in the US — Kyleena, Skyla, Mirena, Paragard, and Liletta. Nexplanon is the only subdermal implant available.

After removing these devices, the return to fertility is almost immediate, with pregnancies seen as early as seven days after removal. LARCS demonstrate the lowest failure rates, highest continuation rates, excellent safety profiles, minimal side effects, and few medical contraindications.

Missouri Senators need to know IUDs do not cause abortions. 

Progesterone IUDs have three main mechanisms of action:

1. The progesterone thickens cervical mucous blocking sperm from getting past the first line of defense.
2. Progesterone creates a vaginal environment that kills sperm after ejaculation.
3. These IUDs also reduce fallopian tube motility making it more difficult for an egg to travel from the ovary to the uterus.

Copper IUDs release copper ions that create an inflammatory state. Sperm do not survive in this environment. Sperm dies at the level of the cervix and the endometrium. Copper IUDs kill sperm and inhibit its ability to swim towards the egg.

The idea that IUDs allow pregnancy to occur and then cause an abortion is outdated and not supported by scientific evidence.

Missouri Senators owe it to themselves and their constituents to learn contraceptive basics before passing bills that limit individual liberty. 

Birth control access has reduced the number of US abortions to historic lows. Pro-life and Pro-choice constituents agree the reduction in the need for abortions is great news for US Women. We are on the same team on this issue. 

Missouri Senators may reverse our project in abortion reduction by passing a bill that reduces access to birth control and increases the number of unplanned pregnancies and abortions. 

Missouri women should not be punished because the Legislature did not pay attention in Junior High Health classes. 

The post Missouri Debates Birth Control Ban Without Knowing How Contraception Works appeared first on Medika Life.