Emergency Contraceptives

1884 Words4 Pages

Emergency Contraceptives

Despite the age-old belief that the purpose of sexual interaction is to reproduce, people have attempted to practice means of contraception for thousands of years. In Europe, large segments of the population began to use various methods to regulate conception, pregnancy, or births in the latter part of the eighteenth century. During the nineteenth century, the widespread desire for more forms effective means of controlling the number of births resulted in the development of numerous devices and or medications that provided both men and women with opportunities to use contraceptives. With the increased demand and practice of contraception, the medical community needed to provide the population with the best means possible for each individual to prevent conception. For this reason, medical science has in the past few years has made significant advances in the different areas of birth control.

The discovery of emergency or postcoital contraceptives was a breakthrough in the treatment of early-unwanted pregnancies. This particular method of preventing conception has actually existed for many years in the United States and throughout the world. The currently approved method and dosage is 0.10 mg ethinyl estradiol (estrogen) and 0.50 mg levonrgestrel (progestin) taken within 72 hours of intercourse and another dose 12 hours later (Emergency). This is a modified or off-label use of the oral contraceptives normally prescribed for women and is perfectly legal, but not officially approved. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) just recently officially approved the use of oral contraceptives as postcoital contraceptives at the doses listed above (Federal). Recently, the French abortion pill RU486...

... middle of paper ...

...ombined Oral

Contraceptives for Use as Postcoital Emergency Contraception; Notice." Federal

Register 62.37 (25 February 1997): 8609-8612. 28 October 1999.

Office on Population Research, Princeton University. "Emergency Contraception." Office on

Population Research, Princeton University. 28

October 1999.

Piaggio, G., et al. "Comparison of Three Single Doses of Mifepristone as Emergency

Contraception: A Randomized Trial." The Lancet. 353.9154 (27 February 1999): 697-702. ProQuest. Online. 28 October 1999.

Stubblefield, Phillip. "Editorial: Self-Administered Emergency Contraception-A Second

Chance." New England Journal of Medicine 339.1 (2 July 1998): 41-42. ProQuest.

Online. 28 October 1999.

West, Diane. "'Quiet' Contraceptive Making Noise." Pharmaceutical Executive 18.10 (October 1998): S4, S7. ProQuest. Online. 28 October 1999.

Open Document