RU486 KILLS
THE ANNALS OF PHARMACOTHERAPY
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 22, 2002
Contact: Stanley J. Lloyd, PharmD Telephone: 513/793-3555 FAX: 513/793-3600
E-mail: theannals@theannals.com www.theannals.com
Morning-after pill regimens have gained attention recently as a form of emergency contraception, drugs taken by a woman shortly after unprotected sex to prevent pregnancy. Advocates of these regimens claim they are morally and ethically acceptable because, unlike the abortion-inducing drug mifepristone (RU-486), they prevent pregnancy rather than abort an existing life. However, a report just released by The Annals of Pharmacotherapy shows evidence that morning-after pill drug regimens may cause the death of a living embryo by blocking its attempts to attach inside the uterus.
"Postfertilization Effect of Hormonal Emergency Contraception," by Chris Kahlenborn, MD, Joseph B. Stanford, MD, MSPH, and Walter L. Larimore, MD, will appear in the March 2002 issue of The Annals of Pharmacotherapy, and is now available online at www.theannals.com.
The questions raised by this timely analysis could have an impact on current, controversial efforts to make morning-after pill regimens available over-the-counter nationwide. They also present serious moral and ethical challenges to the use of these drugs in emergency rooms and private medical practice.
Morning-after pill regimens use the same active ingredients found in birth control pills, hormones such as levonorgestrel and ethinyl estradiol. It has been widely assumed that these ingredients work mainly by preventing ovulation. However, this report describes evidence that the drugs may sometimes fail to prevent ovulation and rely instead on an after-fertilization effect, causing abortion of the newly formed embryonic life.
The article points out that regardless of the personal beliefs of the physician or providers about the mechanism of these drugs, it is important that patients have information relevant to their own beliefs and value systems. Therefore, for women to whom the induced death of an embryonic life is important, failure to discuss the possibility of this loss, even if the possibility is judged to be remote, would be a failure of informed consent.
Kahlenborn and colleagues conclude that based on the data reviewed, an after-fertilization, early-abortion effect of these drugs is probably a more common event than is recognized by most physicians or patients.
The Annals of Pharmacotherapy is the leading peer-reviewed, international journal for physicians, pharmacists and other healthcare practitioners that features articles directly related to pharmacotherapy, the area of pharmacy practice that promotes the safe, effective, and economical use of medications and related devices in patient care. The publisher of The Annals of Pharmacotherapy, Harvey Whitney Books Company, and its editorial offices, are headquartered at 8044 Montgomery Road, Suite 415, Cincinnati, OH 45236, USA. The journal is available online at http://www.theannals.com.