{"id":75803,"date":"2015-10-01T11:40:29","date_gmt":"2015-10-01T15:40:29","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=75803"},"modified":"2015-10-03T14:44:47","modified_gmt":"2015-10-03T18:44:47","slug":"reminder-rubio-gop-candidates-touting-morning-pill-wont-change-pro-aborts-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/reminder-rubio-gop-candidates-touting-morning-pill-wont-change-pro-aborts-narrative\/","title":{"rendered":"Reminder to Rubio and GOP candidates: Touting morning-after pill won’t change pro-aborts’ narrative"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Florida Senator and presidential candidate Marco Rubio has taken some grief<\/a> for standing firm against abortion even in cases of rape, and impressed pro-lifers by articulating his position in a clear, compassionate way that doesn\u2019t play into the \u201cWar on Women\u201d narrative.<\/p>\n

But while Rubio still deserves credit for not backing down, he appears to be qualifying his position in another way<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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I have said repeatedly that I understand how difficult it is, a young 15-year-old girl who finds herself pregnant and she\u2019s scared and she has her whole future ahead of her. And I don\u2019t in any way diminish that and I do believe women have the right to choose what to do with their own bodies. But in the case of a pregnancy there\u2019s a second person involved, and that\u2019s an unborn human being.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

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So far so good. But then:<\/p>\n

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And luckily in the 21st century, we have treatments available early on after an incident that can prevent that fertilization from happening. And that\u2019s why I support the morning-after pill being available over the counter and I certainly support them being made available immediately for rape victims.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

As we know, the morning-after pill is not an alternative to abortion, but potentially another version of it. Contrary to Rubio\u2019s claim, it doesn\u2019t always \u201cprevent that fertilization from happening,\u201d but can sometimes kill an already-fertilized embryo by blocking his or her implantation<\/a>:<\/p>\n

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The manufacturers of all the pills in question have been required by the FDA to affirm that the drugs may block implantation. As such, the official company website for ella<\/a> states that the drug \u201cmay also work by preventing attachment to the uterus.\u201d The website for Plan B One-Step<\/a> states, \u201cIt is possible that Plan B One-Step\u00ae may also work by \u2026 preventing attachment (implantation) to the uterus (womb).\u201d And the website for Next Choice<\/a> states that the drug \u201cworks by preventing \u2026 attachment of the egg (implantation) to the uterus (womb)\u201d [\u2026]<\/p>\n

This is where the NPR and Times stories unravel. Although the abstract of study gives no indication of any significant caveats, if one is willing to purchase access to the full study (at a cost of $31.50<\/a>) and examine its details, vital information is revealed. The study found that at least two thirds of the 87 women who had not yet ovulated before taking the drug actually ovulated within five days of taking the drug. This clashes with NPR\u2019s claim that the drug \u201cstops an egg from being released from a woman\u2019s ovary and thus prevents any chance of fertilization and pregnancy.\u201d Likewise, it undermines the Time\u2019s claim that \u201cscientists say the pills work up to five days after sex, primarily stalling an egg\u2019s release until sperm can no longer fertilize it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Rubio is not the only GOP contender to embrace so-called emergency contraception; so have Ben Carson<\/a> and Rand Paul<\/a> (the two physicians in the race, who should especially know better), while Bobby Jindal supported it in 2003<\/a> and hasn\u2019t specified where he stands today, though you may recall he floated an ill-conceived over-the-counter birth control plan<\/a> in 2012 which left the abortifacient aspect vague (Chris Christie<\/a>, Carly Fiorina<\/a>, Donald Trump<\/a>, Jeb Bush<\/a>, and John Kasich<\/a> favor the rape exception itself).<\/p>\n

Rubio, Carson, Paul, and Jindal may simply be misinformed, in which case their campaigns could really use pro-life advisers more on the ball. Or they could be gambling that this is the price they need to pay to appear more sensitive to rape victims\u2026in which case their judgment needs a serious reality check.<\/p>\n

\"Fetal

Fetal facepalm<\/p><\/div>\n

On principle, it doesn\u2019t matter whether a preborn life is killed with a forceps or a pill; an abortion is an abortion. If you accept the premise that children conceived in rape deserve protecting just as much as those conceived consensually, you can\u2019t turn around and abandon them just because enough people agree to pretend a certain method doesn\u2019t kill them.<\/p>\n

In fact, widespread ignorance about how morning-after pills work makes it all the more important for leaders to use high-profile platforms like presidential campaigns to educate the public. By contrast, as controversial as rape exceptions are, nobody with a general grasp of abortion doesn\u2019t know that it\u2019s still an abortion even if it\u2019s sought after rape.<\/p>\n

And strategically, it doesn\u2019t help these guys anyway. Just consider a sampling of headlines this year:<\/p>\n