Would like to know how many of the expectant mothers that come here asking?

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I think that the scariest thing I have seen in a long while is the ignorance of the facts about a method of legal birth control that is available to women as another option.

I thnk that this ignorance is symptomatic of a larger problem in our society, due in large part ot Abstinence Only sex education that has been the rule rather than information given out freely, questions answered honesty, and sex and contraceptive information provided that is adequate to take care of women and their bodies.

If they are this ill-informed about one option in birth control, they arelikely equally uninformed about other areas of sex education, too. Despite what they have obviously been told, an abortion is the least of their worries when having unprotected sex. This pilll will take care of an unintended pregnacy, not as an abortion but as an emergency prevention.

They need to know that there isn't an emergency prevention for HIV, chalmydia, syphillis, gonorrhea, herpes or other diseases that we may not even know about yet. Remember that HIV/AIDs wasn't even a problem here until the mid 1980's. Who knows what may come in the next few years.

When there is a safe, easy to use, effective and readily available alternative to pregnancy and abortion, why would one not use it? Then educate on the other things that COULD happen for which there isn't an emergency cure....Show more

As you imply, it may well be that many women simply don't know about emergency contraception (EC) as an option or don't think of it.

Personally, I think that most American women are at least aware of EC, but as you can see in this very question, there is a great deal of misunderstanding about what it is and how it works. Unfortunately, sexual health education in the US varies widely and many Americans lack some very basic knowledge not just about sex but their own bodies and health.

It doesn't help too that in rhe US, pharmacies are not required to carry birth control or EC and there have been legal cases in some states about the "right" of pharmacists to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions or sell contraceptives for religious or moral reasons.


To some of the people who answered here, FYI, Plan B is Not an abortifacient. It is a hormonal emergency contraceptive that works on the same principle as birth control pills.

Actually, birth control pills can be used as emergency contraception and were before Plan B and other specific EC drugs were made. The number of pills you take is usually 4 but varies depending on the specific prescription brand of pill. But basically you take several birth control pills and then 12 hours later you take that same dose again....Show more

Good question.

I suppose if we take the overall number of abortion/adoption questions, then subtract the ones only considering abortion/adoption if the baby's father was going to be around (really think some of these are "accidentally on purpose" pregnancies), then subtract the ones that were birth control failure (didn't know the birth control failed, until the test strip turned blue), then the ones who didn't use birth control in the first place because "it couldn't happen to me", and we'd have the answer.

I'm glad to see that the Plan B is available over the counter. I'm a little concerned about how quickly it went from prescription only, to OTC, (considering that it took something like Zyrtec years to be available without a prescription) and I really hope that the FDA's process for this was followed and corners weren't cut because of politics....Show more

Good God, Plan B is NOT an abortion.

Most women are totally ill-informed. A friend of mine had a scare and called me saying that she was going to consider it, but that she felt uncomfortable about an "abortion pill". After 20 minutes on the phone, I sent her trotting down to the pharmacy...She is 29 and did not know how the pill worked. Like you said, Gypsy, it simply induces what the body does every month naturally. Plan B is not any more an abortion than menstruation.

Also, as another answerer said, many women don't realize that they are pregnant until much after Plan B would be effective....Show more

Many persons I know that had an unexpected pregnancy were not using contraceptives PROPERLY. They relied on these contraceptive methods like they are 99% effective, but they are actually much less effective because they are not taken properly. Since they are completely relying on this method, they do not even think about possibly getting pregnant until they missed their period! Then it is much too late. Also, many women do not get pregnant (for quite awhile) when they are using less than effective methods, so they think it is working just fine. I always tell my friends that if they are forgetful about their birth control pill, they need a backup method, like condoms....Show more