NEW COMPANY SET TO MARKET ABORTION PILL IN U.S.

NEW YORK, July 21 (LSN) – The New York Post today is reporting that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is on the verge of approving the “morning-after” abortion pill for use in America. The morning-  after pill is essentially a high-dose birth-control pill that can be taken up to 72 hours after sex to prevent pregnancy. It is an abortifacient preventing a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus wall.  Gynetics, a small New Jersey company, intends to sell the pill. Previously, no American companies have been prepared to face the anticipated public backlash for selling abortion pills — in 1996 the FDA tried to find a company to develop a “morning after” pill but found very low interest in the idea. Gynetics,  however, was apparently formed specifically to sell this pill, so it is expected to be more impervious to opposition. Pro-lifers, for example, will not be able to boycott the company, since they don’t purchase its product in the first place.  Pro-life groups condemn the use of chemical abortifacients like this both for their destruction of innocent human life and because their use amounts to turning women into guinea-pigs in an experiment with unknown, yet potentially wide-ranging, health ramifications. According to a report by the Kaiser Family Foundation, only 10% of ob-gyn doctors routinely inform their patients about morning-after pills.  Washington state started distributing morning-after pills 4 months ago, reports CNS (Conservative News Service) and has already filled out 2,700 prescriptions. At an expected price of $25 to $40, the pill would cost the equivalent of a month’s worth of birth-control pills,  which is expected to increase the incentive for using the one-shot option. Such high doses of the chemicals in question, however, present serious health risks to women, especially when used repeatedly.  Even morning-after pill advocates admit it should only be used in “emergency” situations, and not as a substitute for normal “birth control,”  because of these risks. According to CNS, the Washington state program receives funding from USAID.