FDA approves use of 'morning after' contraceptives

The Food and Drug Administration last week approved the use of birth control pills as a "morning after" device for preventing pregnancies in women who have had unprotected sex. But the move should not have much of an impact on campus, because the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania Women's Health Center has been supplying women with the pills for several years. And Obstetrics and Gynecology professor Steven Sondheimer, director of HUP's Family Planning Clinic, noted that the pill's availability "will help many couples who are ambivalent about using the method during a difficult situation." But FDA officials maintained that official approval of the practice -- known as "emergency contraception" -- is still important. "It makes the information more available," FDA spokesperson Susan Cruzan said, explaining that manufacturers could now put proper dosage labels on birth control pills. The manufacturers had not had FDA approval to label the pills because emergency contraception was not their primary purpose. But even before government approval of the pills, many women on campus were aware of the emergency contraception option. The Women's Health Center administered the necessary pills 485 times last year. The Center, however, does not simply sell the correct birth control pills to interested women. It takes a full medical history of the patient, records the woman's blood pressure and checks to make sure that she is not already pregnant. In order to be effective as contraception, the pills must be taken on a regular schedule. The more a woman deviates from the schedule, the lower the chance that the pills will successfully prevent pregnancy. But the FDA's approval of the emergency contraception raises several potential dangers, such as the possibility that women will attempt to medicate themselves with birth control pills that they may already have but don't normally use. Sondheimer and Women's Health Center Coordinator Debbie Mathis recommend that women see their doctors to get proper information on the emergency contraception before using the pills, especially because different birth control pills require different doses in order to be effective in preventing pregnancies. Another fear is that women will begin to use the morning after pill on a regular basis. "My hope is that most people will logically conclude that they're better off using another method for regular use," Sondheimer said. "If this method is only 75 percent effective, if you use it enough times, you're going to have a failure." Mathis agreed, but expressed her belief that women will seek different methods of birth control because of the nausea that commonly results from emergency contraception. Sondheimer added that the government's decision is remarkable because approval of the contraception was not prompted by a manufacturer coming forward and requesting approval for birth control pills to be used after unprotected sex. But not everyone is happy with the government's approval of the morning after pill. "We're officially opposed to any drug or procedure that would be used for the purpose of destroying the life of an unborn child," graduate student and Penn Pro-Life President Katherine Hardy said. And because there "isn't an ideal form of contraception," Hardy predicts that the technique will often be used by women, instead of solely on an emergency basis. But Mathis said University students commonly use other methods of protection, because they "are concerned about sexually transmitted diseases and things other than pregnancy."