On Thu, 8 Nov 2012 07:39:43 -0800 (PST),
dustin....@gmail.com
wrote:
>From SilentOtto:
>> On Wed, 7 Nov 2012 20:04:33 -0800 (PST),
dustin....@gmail.com
>> wrote:
>
>> >On Wednesday, November 7, 2012 9:01:55 PM UTC-6, SilentOtto wrote:
>>
>> >> On Wed, 7 Nov 2012 15:22:07 -0800 (PST),
dustin....@gmail.com
>>
>> >> wrote:
>
>> >Emergency contraception is understood, aiui, to have *both* effects in how it works. It can serve to prevent conception, and it can also serve to prevent implantation after conception.
>>
>>
>>
>> Your understanding of emergency contraception is faulty.
>>
>>
>>
>> It does -not- prevent conception, only implantation.
>
>Your understanding is in total disagreement with what Princeton says:
>
>"Emergency contraception is used to prevent pregnancy before it begins, and works primarily or perhaps exclusively by delaying or inhibiting ovulation; it does not cause an abortion."
See below.
>
>Source-
http://ec.princeton.edu/questions/morningafter.html
>
>> >So one "selling point" is that it can outright prevent that moment that certain people hold to be sacred - the uniting of sperm and ovum.
>>
>>
>>
>> Sorry.
>>
>>
>>
>> But, that's wrong.
>>
>>
>>
>> It does not prevent the uniting of sperm and ovum.
>
>When Princeton talks, I listen.
>
>...but if you have a reference that might convince me that my understanding is completely mistaken, I'd be glad to read it.
It seems that the description of how the morning after pill works has
been modified.
I didn't catch that and stand corrected.
However, I want to make it clear that I wasn't talking out my ass.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/06/health/research/morning-after-pills-dont-block-implantation-science-suggests.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&pagewanted=all&adxnnlx=1352396324-/Y1h2/EHYlyhLHpEvG8kWw
"Labels inside every box of morning-after pills, drugs widely used to
prevent pregnancy after sex, say they may work by blocking fertilized
eggs from implanting in a woman’s uterus. Respected medical
authorities, including the National Institutes of Health and the Mayo
Clinic, have said the same thing on their Web sites."
Further reading suggests that the medical community doesn't know
precisely how morning after pills works, but have revised their
description to include preventing ovulation as the primary means of
preventing pregnancy.
Even so, conservative politicians have been asked directly about
emergency contraception, and they've come out against it.
Having said that, perhaps their understanding is outdated also, and
they may be more willing to reconsider the matter were they corrected.
However, I wouldn't be optimistic in that score.
The response of the anti-abortion community to the revision of how the
morning after pill works was to contest the revision, not to embrace
it.
http://www.lifesitenews.com/news/the-truth-about-morning-after-pills/
The truth about ‘Morning-after pills’
by Anna Maria Hoffman
Tue Jul 31, 2012 08:56 EST
Comments ()
Tags: ella, media bias, morning-after pill, plan b
On June 5, 2012, New York Times writer Pam Belluck wrote an article
called “Abortion Qualms on Morning-After Pill May Be Unfounded.” In
her article, Belluck mistakenly lumps Plan B and Ella—two very
different drugs—together, ignorantly proclaims that these drugs do not
prevent implantation, and does not account for Ella’s
abortion-inducing actions. Unsurprisingly, Belluck claims that the
pro-life view of morning-after pills “is probably rooted in outdated
or incorrect scientific guesses about how [they] work.” As she
presents her empty argument, Belluck argues that no studies have
confirmed “that emergency contraceptive pills prevent fertilized eggs
from implanting in the womb” and that these pills only “delay
ovulation.” She heavily refers to a New York Times review, along with
“scientists” and “experts” she forgets to cite, to support her view
that Plan B does not prevent implantation and that “the one-shot dose
in morning-after pills does not have time to affect the uterine
lining.
Disheartened by Belluck’s reporting? Luckily, several renowned
pro-life advocates have written articles against Belluck’s dishonest
claims:
Donna Harrison, The Times’s Convolution of Facts on Abortifacients
Gerard Nadal, Responding to the New York Times on ‘Morning After’
Pills: A Factual Recalibration (Part I)
Jeanne Monahan, Emergency Contraception: We need an unbiased review of
the facts
Richard Doerflinger, Letter in Response to NY Times Article of June 6,
2012
Marie T. Hilliard, Are Journalists Now Scientists? A Reporter Loses
Sight of Data on Plan B”
If you go to the website, the articles and essays listed above are
linked, so you can read them yourself.
But, what one would think is good news about the workings of the
morning after pill has been met with skepticism and efforts to contest
the revision of how the morning after pill works.
See what I mean about ideologues?
I'm not yet clear on how representative of the anti-abortion community
the above views are, but I wouldn't be optimistic.
>> >Another "marketing strategy", if you will, is that failure of a fertilized egg to implant as a pregnancy is a common occurrence that happens naturally.
>>
>>
>>
>> Happening naturally is one thing. Happening artificially, which is
>>
>> what we're talking about, is quite another.
>>
>>
>>
>> One is "God's will", the other is abortion.
>
>There seems to be a huge education disconnect here. Even if we were to agree that morning after options work by preventing implantation, it would still not be an abortion. The word abortion refers to aborting a pregnancy. If a fertilized ovum does not implant, then pregnancy never started.
As I noted in my last post, that doesn't cut much ice with social
conservatives.
They are the ones who need convincing about the efficacy of emergency
contraception, not me.
>
>> >The crux of the issue is:
>>
>> >- respect for the woman's needs, vs
>>
>> >- respect for the new life.
>>
>>
>>
>> >When these people who maintain the extreme position of being against scraping a raped woman's uterus, they might see state-subsidized emergency contraception to be an acceptable compromise for resolving their internally conflicted dilemma.
>>
>>
>>
>> One of the points that people like Murdock and Akin are making is that
>>
>> they don't see anything that results in an abortion as an acceptable
>>
>> compromise, and that emergency contraception is just another form of
>>
>> abortion.
>>
>>
>>
>> That's why they hold the position they do in the first place.
>>
>>
>>
>> It's not the method of abortion they're taking issue with, it's
>>
>> abortion itself that they oppose.
>
>Let's be clear that BOTH Mourdock and Akin *do* support abortion under a strict set of circumstances. Neither of them maintains a position that they oppose abortion under absolutely every case. So for both of these ultra-extreme people, they have considered certain situations where they arrive at the conclusion that:
>
>"Abortion is the proper course of action in this case. I fully support abortion for her to deal with her pregnancy."
The only situation I've heard them offer any support for abortion has
to do with the life of the mother.
That severe limit is one of the things that got them into trouble.
>(Those are my words, as inferred from their words.)
>
>Now imagine if you could help these people get educated to the point where they become aware that 'morning after' is not abortion. That it is a solution that is totally consistent with their stand on respect for life.
They may be open to such an argument.
Then again... They may not.
>Alternatively, you (or someone else here) might educate me that my understanding is deficient. It is possible that I will read something that will convince me that 'morning after' is an abortion.
It seems that there's still uncertainty about the matter, even in the
medical community.
>> >We do know how to prevent pregnancies from ever happening in these cases, and if presented with the choice of the status quo versus this alternative program that upholds the goal of preventing the pregnancy, I don't see how anyone - whether they stand on either extreme or anywhere in between - I don't see how anyone would not favor the emergency contraception option over abortion.
>>
>>
>>
>> It's almost as if you've not been paying attention to what many of the
>>
>> social conservatives have been saying, or that you don't believe they
>>
>> mean what they're saying...
>>
>>
>>
>> Their position is this...
>>
>>
>>
>> Rape is regrettable, but that doesn't alter the fact that once
>>
>> conceived, a fertilized egg is a person and is entitled to the same
>>
>> legal protections that any other person is entitled to.
>
>I do understand that this is their position. Perfectly clear.
OK.
>
>> There's little room for compromise in that position, which is why both
>>
>> Murdock and Akin, and a whole host of allies, have said what they've
>>
>> said.
>>
>>
>>
>> >So even if a person were to reject my above arguments and maintain that there is some moral obligation to do everything we can to implant a fertilized egg, then even these people would accept the change as an improvement to what we have today.
>>
>>
>>
>> They don't see it as a change from what we have today at all.
>>
>>
>>
>> An abortion is an abortion is an abortion, whether it's done through
>>
>> preventing implantation or termination through some other means.
>
>Now if instead we all get onto the same page as that Princeton understanding, we will know that 'morning after' works by "delaying or inhibiting ovulation; it does not cause an abortion".
We'll have to see.
I still wouldn't be optimistic.
>
><snip>
>> >> So, it -isn't- an exaggeration to say that those who believe
>> >> personhood begins at conception also favor interfering with women's
>> >> birth control choices, because they do.
>>
>> >
>>
>> >You are focusing on a very fine line: the time between conception and implantation, whereas their camp's primary opposition is to the abortion of developing embryos and fetuses.
>>
>>
>>
>> I'm focusing?
>>
>>
>>
>> They are the ones who are focusing.
>>
>>
>>
>> It was the religious right who brought this issue up, not me.
>>
>>
>>
>> They are the ones who want to pass personhood laws, with their
>>
>> attendant consequence.
>>
>>
>>
>> And, they are very aware of what those consequences are.
>>
>>
>>
>> I'm satisfied with the way things are now, and would be happy to leave
>>
>> the issue alone if only the religious right would also leave it alone.
>>
>>
>>
>> But, they don't.
>>
>>
>>
>> They want to end abortion, period.
>
>I see the core of their belief to be a basic respect for unborn life. And here I see a lot of merit in what they are bringing to the table. There are plenty of women who use abortion as a primary means of birth control. It's difficult for me to hear people say they are totally satisfied with the way things are now, especially when we today have much smarter means of preventing pregnancy.
If you think you can persuade women who use abortion as a primary
means of birth control to use other methods, have at it.
You'll get no argument from me.
However, making abortion illegal as a sort of cudgel to encourage some
irresponsible women to be more responsible isn't an acceptable
solution to me.
>> Neither do they recognize any difference between a fertilized ovum and
>>
>> a developing fetus.
>>
>>
>>
>> That's the root of the personhood laws they've recently begun to push,
>>
>> that there is no difference.
>>
>>
>>
>> You're assuming they see nuance when they've made it clear they do
>>
>> not.
>
>Rape is a special, rare case. And I've already highlighted the fact that even these most extreme of people do support abortion under certain rare cases. Further education can bring about further shift in position.
Perhaps.
Perhaps not.
Take Catholics, for example.
They are certain to maintain their objection to the morning after
pill.
After all, they're against -all- forms of birth control.
>> >It is difficult for me to imagine those with the most extreme position to staunchly object to any movement that the vast majority can rally behind that would help them achieve their goal of drastic reductions in the number of abortions that are performed.
>>
>>
>>
>> I think your experience with ideologically driven people must be
>>
>> limited.
>>
>>
>>
>> This rather gets back to the point I made in our last discussion.
>>
>>
>>
>> Many social conservatives aren't really interested in preventing
>>
>> abortion, they're interested in preventing sex outside of their
>>
>> preferred religious framework.
>>
>>
>>
>> They see abortion as a sort of "get out of jail free" card, and want
>>
>> to remove it from the game.
>
>Excellent point. (...as I remember having previously acknowledged.)
I couldn't recall if I successfully persuaded you on that point or
not.
>> They don't like exceptions for rape or incest because they fear such
>>
>> exceptions will be exploited to skirt an abortion ban.
>>
>>
>>
>> Neither is this hyperbole.
>>
>>
>>
>> State Sen. Chuck Winder, from Idaho, suggested as much during the
>>
>> debate over mandatory ultrasound laws in his state. He felt that the
>>
>> doctors should be questioning women to determine if they were -really-
>>
>> raped or if perhaps her pregnancy might not be the result of something
>>
>> other than rape.
>>
>>
>>
>> "I would hope that when a woman goes in to a physician with a rape
>>
>> issue, that physician will indeed ask her about perhaps her marriage,
>>
>> was this pregnancy caused by normal relations in a marriage or was it
>>
>> truly caused by a rape. I assume that's part of the counseling that
>>
>> goes on.”
>
>I happen to see that as a smart concern. If rape cases are treated differently, then I agree it is important to medically verify that rape actually occurred.
First, I don't wish to see rapes treated differently. I think
abortion should be broadly available with few exceptions, as
determined by a woman and her doctor.
Second, have you considered the can of worms allowing abortion only in
the case of rape will open?
Who is to decide if a woman has been raped?
Is she going to be interrogated?
Is she going to be inspected for signs of violence?
What if there are no signs of violence?
Is the state going to allow an abortion at the conclusion of a police
investigation, or must a woman wait for the conclusion of a trial
before an abortion is allowed?
There are many questions and implications to such a law, and they
aren't pretty.
It was implied by your seeming acceptance of the idea of an increasing
continuum of opposition to abortion as a pregnancy progresses.
Perhaps.
Perhaps not.
>>Immediately following this comment, he goes on to explain the case where he is in favor of abortion.
Right.
I still consider that an overly extreme position.
>Here is the question I would like to see him asked:
>"If a woman is raped, and there is some pill that she could take that would prevent conception from ever happening inside her body, would you be support her in that? Would you support government subsidy of that solution?"
>
>There is absolutely nothing I've seen from anyone on the far right to indicate that any of them would say 'no' to that. It would then follow that if we were all to be in agreement that this is exactly how the morning after solution works, then this issue would be resolved.
Perhaps.
Except for Catholics.
They're certain to maintain their objection.
>> You're assuming that what they really mean is "personhood begins at
>>
>> the moment of implantation".
>>
>>
>>
>> They know the difference, and they settled on conception for a reason.
>
>I understand the distinction. What you might want to consider is that their motivation for taking such an extreme position is that they see the pendulum to be so far to the "wrong" side that they feel compelled to drive a hard line to the farthest opposing side just because they see that as the most effective way to get the pendulum to budge one inch toward a rational equilibrium.
I don't think that this the sort of issue where taking an extreme
position as a negotiating tactic is useful, neither do I believe that
is what they are doing.
>Try for a moment to step into their shoes. Look at today's accepted attitudes and practices of abortion as a present day Holocaust. Can we gain some appreciation as to why they are so urgent in their extreme stand against what is going on? Why so many of them are willing to jump on top of their swords for their cause?
Many anti-abortion activists seem genuinely shocked when they lose at
the polls. I think they've persuaded themselves that putting extreme
restrictions on abortion is really the majority position, even in the
face of evidence that it's not.
That's what ideologues frequently do.
>Now imagine that society did NOT use abortion as a means of birth control. Imagine that the vast majority of women who do not want to get pregnant took responsible measures up front to make sure that they don't get pregnant.
This gets back to our last discussion.
I'll again remind you of which side is opposed to practical, effective
sex education.
>In such a world, the problem of unwanted pregnancy is practically solved. These people you see as right-wing monsters have no Holocaust to champion against. Can we not imagine then that the ensuing conversations about how to deal with women who are raped then becomes a much more rational discussion?!
Again...
I'm not the one you need to persuade when it comes to sex education.
>These people are dismissed as idiots by everyone today who is blind to the fundamental atrocity that they so clearly see. And they are mocked by the stand they take on the marginal cases (rape, ...) when what they care most about is the casual extermination of human fetuses.
I don't believe that the "casual extermination of human fetuses" is
what they care about most.
I believe that what they care about most is preventing sex outside of
their preferred religious framework.
Their opposition to effective sex education and expanded availability
of birth control proves it.
>> As I wrote above, they want to stop all abortion, and they see
>>
>> emergency contraception as just another form of abortion.
>
>These people see an entire house on fire. They urgently want to see hoses taken to extinguish all of the flames. If you come along to point out that fire can be used in certain cases for good things like heating up your food, they will be a lot more open to hearing that *after* the house fire has been extinguished.
Again, I wouldn't be optimistic on that score.
The response to the revision in how the morning after pill works has
been "FIRE BAD!!!", so to speak.
>What the media latches onto is the story of that person walking up to the firefighter while they're frantically struggling to put out the fire, and the headline becomes:
>
>"Nutjob firefighter is opposed to using matches for heating up soup."
"FIRE BAD!!!"
>> >I totally understand the hard-lined position of conception being sacred.
>>
>>
>>
>> >But serving the public in a democracy is all about finding solutions that the majority can live with.
>>
>>
>>
>> What we have now, abortion on demand in the first trimester, with
>>
>> increasing restrictions as the pregnancy progresses, is pretty much
>>
>> the majority position, and I can live with it just fine.
>>
>>
>>
>> The far right are the ones that need to get on board with the majority
>>
>> position, not the other way around.
>
>I'll ask you again to examine the far right's position for any shred of merit. Is there any possibility that they are firefighters? Can you at least recognize that they see themselves to be?
I've examined their position for a shred of merit.
Were they pressing for improved sex education and expanded
availability of birth control, I might accept that they really are
"firefighters", as you put it.
But, they aren't.
In fact, they're actively trying to sabotage such efforts.
They're far less fighters than they are arsonists, to twist your
metaphor a bit.
>If you answer yes, then perhaps the strategy becomes convincing these people that abortion is a wonderful thing. Kind of like how a park ranger will explain to you that wildfires serve a productive role in renewal of the land.
Have at it.
>
>I myself have yet to be persuaded of the wisdom in the status quo abortion policy and attitudes.
I think it's the best compromise for society as a whole, and the only
one that makes any real sense.
The bottom line is that there is no way to force a woman to carry a
fetus to term that she doesn't want to carry.
So, it's not really a choice between abortion and no abortion.
It's a choice between safe abortion and unsafe abortion.
I have to come down on the side of safe abortion.
>> >And this is one solution that makes a lot of sense to me regardless of where you may stand on the issue.
>>
>>
>>
>> You are being reasonable.
>>
>>
>>
>> The far right are not reasonable.
>>
>>
>>
>> >Ultra-right can embrace it as a major improvement. Everyone else can embrace it as totally sensible.
>>
>>
>>
>> The far right won't see it as an improvement at all.
>>
>>
>>
>> That's the way ideologues are.
>
>
>> As you're the one posting through Google Groups. If this discussion
>>
>> continues, and Google mangles the layout, you're the one responsible
>>
>> for making it comprehensible. :)
>
>Something is messing up the flow here. Curious, because I've been using Google Groups for over a decade without ever having seen this problem before.
When they switched to the "new Google groups", it screwed things up.
I think it now quotes every line in a post instead of just quoting
lines of text.
Anyway, it's on you to keep it comprehensible.
Cheers.