Ella Is Here!

Let me introduce you to Ella, the newest abortion drug the FDA is referring to as "emergency contraception"! 

On Friday, August 13, the Food and Drug Administration approved the drug that supporters call a better morning after pill. Watson Pharmaceuticals Inc. will begin selling the abortion drug in the USA under the name "ella" starting in October of this year. I find it ironic that a drug called ella (in Spanish, "she"), which causes an abortion, is supposed to benefit women.

Ulipristal can be used after sexual intercourse at a time later than the traditional Plan B drug, which almost always causes an abortion because it begins working days after conception. Ella is a prescription-only drug. Taken orally within 120 hours (or five days) after intercourse, it is used to prevent a pregnancy following contraceptive failure or unprotected sex. Pro-life groups emphasize that ella will, in fact, cause very early abortions because the beginning of human life is at conception, when egg and sperm unite.

Not only is the ella (ulipristal) untested, but women are being misinformed about how it works. Known as a selective progesterone receptor modulator (SPRM for short), it is the first "emergency contraceptive" that blocks progesterone. 

In a woman whose reproductive system is healthy, the level of progesterone naturally increases after each ovulation. Levels of progesterone remain heightened, if a woman conceives, until the placenta takes over supplying this hormone at around 12 weeks gestation. When conception occurs, the increased progesterone levels prevent the lining of the uterus from shedding and create a healthy environment for implantation and the baby receives the nutrition needed to grow.

By blocking progesterone, ella (ulipristal)  acts as an abortion drug by one of two methods. Either the fertilized egg cannot implant in the uterus because the lack of progesterone makes it a hostile environment or once implanted, this new human being is starved of the nutrients needed to survive. A study in England CONFIRMED that ulipristal acts as an abortifacient, but the FDA ignored this information provided by Americans United for Life, the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists, and other Pro-Life groups.

President of Concerned Women for America, Wendy Wright, says that the FDA is misleading women. She believes that approval of the drug was driven by politics and was deliberately released late on a Friday when people are focusing on the weekend when they are paying less attention. She says, "The meager trials done on ella indicate it may cause miscarriages and birth defects. Yet the FDA allowed the HRA Pharma to avoid fully testing the drug so women will be kept in the dark on what kind of serious complications it may cause to her and her baby." 

This isn't medicine. It is politics. Worse yet, it is playing Russian Roulette with a woman's life and targets the life of a new and unique human being!

Just as with the ill-advised approval of the dangerous abortion drug RU 486, the FDA is approving ulipristal with little testing. According to FDA reports, RU 486 has killed at least 13 women and injured more than 1,100 in the United States alone. Although is is considered an "emergency contraceptive", ulipristal basically operates the same way as RU 486.

What effect will ulipristal have on babies who survive the drug? The answer to that is unknown. There is concern for a high rate of potential birth defects for those babies born after failure of the ella pill. Clinical trials concerning potential birth defects were not conducted before the FDA advisory committee issued its recommendation. Despite evidence that ella may cause birth defects in babies that survive, members of an FDA Advisory Committee recommended against long-term studies to determine if it does.

This kind of policy keeps women AND the medical community in the dark about the risks of ulipristal! But that's their point, isn't it? They don't consider that information necessary if a woman desires not to be pregnant. They figure women will accept a drug with a low risk over being pregnant. This thinking is pushed by politics and the American dollar!

Politicians and money makers ignore the real points, however - that a woman cannot make good choices without proper information and that low risk isn't good enough! Women deserve better!

FDA testing standards for reproductive drugs for women are lower than for any other drugs. This is unacceptable. Again, women fall victim to yet another abortion drug approved by the FDA. Don't women deserve better than to be mislead by labeling that indicates the drug is a contraceptive and not an abortion pill? Doesn't approving the drug before adequate testing to determine possible serious complications to women and their babies put abortion politics above women's health? 

Women should be up in arms about this! Why are we sitting here letting this happen?