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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This is just another option that the adoption industry makes sure is played down to the public. They have the blessings of the anti-choice and religious contingent and there are many doctors and pharmacists that like to play judge and jury as well. The AMA article I read says that there are many fertilized ova that never implant. Should everyone go through their menses trying to decide if they are losing a zygote?

There are probably as many unnecessary pregnancies as there are unnecessary adoptions. The options are; proactive birth control, Plan B, termination or carrying to term and parenting the child YOU created. Doing the job of raising your own child would be a lot more responsible than falling for industry hype and thinking you can use adopters as baby sitters.

I would be willing to bet our IRA that, had such options been available back in the day when I dealt with unexpected pregnancy, there would have been fewer surrenders, fewer families torn apart, fewer adults searching for their heritage and fewer young women in grief for decades afterwards.

Unlike the person above, I don't think Plan B is the same as an abortion.

I do think more women should know about Plan B. From the questions I read here and the women's health topic, I think there are a lot of women out there who don't have good information about reproductive issues in general.

I didn't come here asking about adoption/abortion but i did go through an unplanned pregnancy.

First, I didn't know the condom had failed us.

Secondly, it happened 6 days before I was ovulating, most sperm only survive in the uterus for 5 days. Apparently, my now husband has super sperm!

Thirdly, I used to believe that plan B was a form of abortion (but have then been educated on the subject) and I used to be pro-life (funny how being pregnant changed my viewpoint). So even if I had know all of the above i still wouldn't have taken it.

Fourth, the type of cancer that runs in my family is very responsive to hormonal treatments, so taking plan b greatly increases my chances of breast cancer.

I did know about it but it didn't matter because a) i didn't realize i needed it and B) I wouldn't have taken it any way.

I dont know if women know that this is readily available to them.

For those of you saying that this is a form of abortion, you need to go back to grade school biology. Seriously? How can anyone be so ill informed? Thinking this is a form of abortion is exactly like the example the op gave- if you really believe this, do YOU have funerals for your menses every month?

Seriously- no wonder some of you cannot get pregnant. Reading some of these answers also makes me wonder how you passed a home study. Scary.

Im sure they did. But correction, you can be 17 and get plan B without prescription with an I.D. Some claim that its to "expensive" but abortions cost much more.

If your not dealing with an unplanned pregnancy... Why be so concerned? Its them that have to deal with it forever... Not you.

Your wording is ridiculous. And Im not being "bold" and "assuming" this is what you why you want to know. I just wanted to know why you asked?? And before you be so "bold" and give young people so called facts, you should make sure they are correct. Plan B can be bought at 17, not 18. Any younger than that will need a prescription.

Oh my goodeness, For they person who said "plan B is a form of birth control", They make it VERY clear that its NOT.