News

The rapid proliferation of abortifacient “emergency contraception” around the world in the past
few years, has been engineered by an international consortium of abortion supporters.  Formed
in 1996, the International Consortium on Emergency Contraception, includes UNDP/UNFPA/WHO/World
Bank Special Programme of Research, Development and Research Training in Human Reproduction
(Geneva); International Planned Parenthood Federation (London); The Population Council (New York);
The Concept Foundation (Bangkok); Pacific Institute for Women’s Health (Los Angeles); Pathfinder
International (Boston); Population Services International (Washington, DC); and Program for
Appropriate Technology in Health (PATH).

The stated objective of the group states that it is “committed to making a dedicated product
for emergency contraception a standard part of reproductive health care around the world,” with
no consideration of the effects of these potent drugs on women’s health.

Work on the project began immediately with the World Health Organization adding “emergency
contraceptive pills” (ECPs) to its published list of Essential Drugs in 1996. National
governments use the Essential Drugs list to help guide choice in public coverage of
pharmaceutical drugs.

1996 also marked the first year the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in
collaboration with the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), UNICEF and WHO, worked on an
emergency reproductive health kit.  The inter-agency group defined ECPs as part of a Minimum
Initial Service Package (MISP) to be provided in the world’s refugee camps.  That year UNFPA
distributed the ECPs in refugee camps in Kenya, Ethiopia and Uganda.

The consortium was aided by groups promoting population control since ECP’s served as an aid in
this regard. In a Fact Sheet distributed to all of its overseas missions in October 1997, the
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) declared ECPs safe and effective and said
they “constitute an integral part of the voluntary service delivery mix that USAID supports.”

The abortifacient drugs are marketed in different countries under different brand names, but
all acting similarly to, in most cases, alter the lining of the womb thus not allowing the tiny
baby created at fertilization to implant in the womb.  Canada and the US have Preven and soon
Plan B while in Nigeria and other African countries common ECPs include Postinor 2, Tetragynon
and PC4; South Africans are faced with E-Gen-C. WHO even published a study indicating that
mifepristone (RU486) could be used in low doses for “emergency contraception.”

While much of Western Europe has been open to the abortifacient drug regime, other countries
had to be encouraged to accept ECPs.  The Consortium partners launched sophisticated ECP
propaganda campaigns mounting them on the Internet in as many as 13 languages. Professional
slide presentations in various languages were produced for marketers. Always positive studies
and surveys on ECPs appeared from one country to another.  Pamphlets, posters and even toll
free lines were set up to promote the drugs.  Furthermore, the group worked from the beginning
to have the drugs available over the counter.  The consortium laboriously catalogued all
opposition and developed strategies to deal with resistance and was aided in their task by
many abortion-supporting groups.

In the fall of 1998 the consortium predicted that it would “fulfill its original mandate by
mid-1999”.  “At that time,” they said there would be an “enthusiastic response to emergency
contraception around the world” and an “increase in the number of organizations engaged in
introducing this method.”

For the many negative side effects of ECPs see:
https://lsn.ca/ldn/1999/sept/990922a.html