Mother Jones’ Kate Sheppard describes abortifacient effect, claims it’s not abortion

In an article about opposition by pro-lifers to birth control that the Obama Administration is expected to force insurers to cover, Mother Jones columnist Kate Sheppard describes the abortifacient effectof the pills and then claims it is not abortion.

Human Fertilization

Sheppard offers a quote from Jeanne Monahan of Family Research Council’s Center for Human Dignity:

The other problem, says Monahan, is abortion. Specifically, abortion opponents argue that some emergency contraceptives — so called morning-after pills — can cause very early abortions by preventing the implantation of fertilized eggs into a woman’s uterus.

“So those 7 to 10 days before a baby can implant, Plan B can prevent implantation and thereby cause the demise of that baby. So we’d be opposed to those drugs being included because they act as abortifacients.”

Even though this clearly describes the death of a baby, remarkably, Sheppard claims this is not an abortion.

Anti-abortion groups believe that this constitutes abortion, even though medical organizations like the National Institutes of Health and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists have been clear that this is factually incorrect; pregnancy does not begin until a fertilized egg is implanted.

Sheppard is relying on a redefinition of “pregnancy” by these organizations, that life does not begin when it actually begins: at fertilization. Because those who support abortion reject what science tells us about when life begins, the definition of “pregnancy” itself has been changed in order to accommodate those who want no clear, biology-based lines drawn on what constitutes a human life.

By redefining pregnancy as having occurred only after implantation, and having abortion supporters in the medical community willing to give them cover, those who really don’t care what happens to children in the womb believe they can accurately claim that abortifacients are not, in fact, abortive.

Ostensibly, this denial of reality is perpetuated in the name of ‘rights’ for women, but Plan B can cause a grave threat to women.

“Birth control pills are available by prescription only for sound medical reasons: They can cause significant or life-threatening conditions such as blood clots and heart attacks. Birth control pills are contraindicated for women with diabetes, liver problems, heart disease, breast cancer, deep vein thrombosis, and for women who smoke and are over 35. A medical exam is necessary to ensure that none of these contraindications exists. For example, according to the Centers for Disease Control, approximately 1.85 million women of reproductive age (18-44) have diabetes; approximately 500,000 do not know that they have the disease.”

It is very troubling to see such a lack of concern for women’s health and disregard for basic biology from the very people who claim to be protecting women and bringing “health” to America through Obamacare. If we accept that even something as universally understood as “pregnancy” can be redefined to claim that life can be destroyed to suit political whims, then perhaps Obamacare is more dangerous than we realized.