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CHAPEL HILL, NC, December 12, 2012, (LifeSiteNews.com) – A new study has found increased access to “emergency contraception” increases the rates of sexually transmitted diseases, while doing nothing to reduce the number of abortions.

Christine Piette Durrance, Ph. D., analyzed county-by-county data in Washington State and found that more widespread use of the morning-after pill led “led to a statistically significant increase in STD rates (gonorrhea rates), both overall and for females.”

Contraceptives such as Plan B, or Ella, do nothing to protect a woman from sexually transmitted diseases.

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Meanwhile, the researcher said that she did not find “an impact of pharmacy access on abortion or birth rates,” according to the study’s abstract.

“One of the worst ramifications of the easy availability of emergency contraception is the false sense of security that it gives to girls and women,” Janice Shaw Crouse, Ph.D., director and senior fellow of The Beverly LaHaye Institute, told LifeSiteNews.com. “The nation is facing an epidemic of STDs among the 15-25 age group where there are nearly 20 million new cases every year.”

The new findings were released just after the American Association of Pediatrics (AAP) issued a policy statement asking doctors and school nurses to promote the use of “emergency contraception” among sexually active adolescents

“It is appalling to have pediatric and other medical associations promote Plan B usage among adolescents when their use is so contrary to a teen’s well-being,” Dr. Crouse said.

Durrance’s report is the latest scholarly finding to question the effectiveness of promoting a morning-after approach to teen sexuality.

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A recent working paper for the National Poverty Center reviewed 23 studies of emergency contraception and concluded “that the evidence points against there being an effect of EC on pregnancy or abortion rates.” 

Their conclusions confirm a study conducted in the United Kingdom last January, which found that widespread access to abortifacients did nothing to reduce pregnancy but increased STD rates by 12 percent. The report, co-authored by Dr. David Paton, appeared in the Journal of Health Economics in January 2011.

“We’ve reached a point in America where those who promote left-wing ideologies about ‘reproductive care’ have lost all sense of responsibility for the well-being of our young people,” Dr. Crouse told LifeSiteNews. “Instead, the adults have sold out to the special interests, and our girls and women are paying a very high price in terms of their overall health and well-being.”