A choice for the morning after

Contraception or abortion?

Controversial issues surrounding the morning-after pill kept it a secret in the United States for 20 years, according to a national coalition for women's health. But on Valentine's Day, information on the morning-after pill was made public via a nationwide toll-free hot line. For SF State students, the morning-after pill is, literally, right next door.

One year ago, SF State's health clinic began offering the morning-after treatment to students who had participated in unprotected sex and wanted to avoid the risk of pregnancy. Emergency contraception is considered to be a method of "very, very early abortion" by the Pro-Life Action League.

The health clinic on campus, however, is pro-choice. The treatment "is an option women need to know about," said Susan Fieldkamp, a registered nurse at the clinic. "If you don't want to use it, that's fine. But it's unfair to tell a woman what she can or can't do about her own reproductive rights."

"I've heard about the abortion controversy," said a student who preferred to remain anonymous, "but if I were concerned, I'd probably use it."

The morning-after treatment is not to be confused with mifeprestone, or RU-486, the French-made drug that induces abortions up to three months after conception. The morning-after treatment is a method of using birth-control pills after sex to stop the release of a woman's egg, or prevent the fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus.

Emergency contraceptive pills can cut down the risk of pregnancy by about 75 percent if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex. That means an 8 percent chance of becoming pregnant, according to Women's Health Update.

The way the treatment works is that two to four birth-control pills are taken within the ascertained 72 hours, and a similar number of pills is taken 12 hours later. The clinic uses Lo/Ovral birth-control pills in the morning-after treatment, as well as prescribing promethazine, an anti-emetic, to prevent nausea. For students on campus the cost for this treatment is $6.50.

An estimated 1.7 million unwanted pregnancies and 800,000 abortions could be prevented in the United States each year if everyone knew about and used emergency contraception, according to James Trussel, director of Population Research at Princeton, who is behind the new hot line.

The fear of liability has also kept information about the treatment in the dark. Doctors fear lawsuits in cases of undetected pregnancy and possible birth defects. Studies show, however, that babies born to women who used the morning-after treatment have not had a higher rate of birth defects.

Fieldkamp has not seen any failures at the clinic from the morning-after treatment, and noted that students who come in for the treatment have already made the decision to abort pregnancy if the pills are unsuccessful.

It's also a fear to some doctors that women will use the pills irresponsibly in place of an ongoing method of contraception, according to Dr. Trent MacKay of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

"In general we have a bright, responsible student population [on campus]," Fieldkamp said, "and students who come in are tuned in to what they want and what they feel is best for them. Because of the pill's most common side effects, nausea and vomiting, women don't want to use the morning-after treatment as a form of regular birth control."

Students cannot receive the treatment if they are not already candidates for the birth-control pill because of more serious health risks. In addition, all birth-control-pill users must take a mandatory class to become educated on the different types of birth control, breast examinations and sexually transmitted diseases.

"For those students who take morning-after pills," Fieldkamp said, "part of the follow-up treatment is to check if the treatment was successful, and to further educate the students on future birth-control methods. While most students who ask for the morning-after treatment are not pregnant, it's an option for when birth control fails."

"I would use it in an emergency situation," said Kara Krause, an SF State sociology graduate. "I wouldn't use it regularly ... it's a comfort that we have it here."

[ Golden Gater Online March 12, 1996 ]

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