Bishop objects to 'morning-after' pills

Bishop Howard J. Hubbard has asked drug companies not to make "morning-after" pills, doctors not to prescribe them and women not to take them.

His remarks came in the wake of the Food and Drug Administration's approval of high doses of birth control pills as "morning-after" pills to prevent pregnancy.

Along with questioning the safety of such pills, the Bishop called the approval "yet another assault on life that promotes freedom of choice without balancing it with responsibility owed to women and children."

The FDA announced last week that six already-approved brands of oral contraceptive could be used in high doses to prevent pregnancy if taken up to 72 hours after unprotected sex. The agency also published the proper dosage for use of the six brands as "morning-after" pills.

"It is with great concern for the total and long-term well-being of women that I question the safety" of the FDA decision, Bishop Hubbard said. "I fear that what is being touted as an easy back-up to contraception may result in far worse consequences for women than an unintended or unwanted pregnancy."

He referred to previous cautions expressed over "the relationship between cancer and low dosages of hormones" and to the absence of testing "to determine the long-range consequences to women who take such extreme doses of estrogen."

The Bishop also noted that "the biological fact that life begins at the point of conception requires that we respect the sacredness of all new life from the moment of fertilization. Prevention of implantation, which occurs with the use of 'morning-after' pills, deprives a growing human being of the nourishment needed to sustain life."

(03-06-97) [[In-content Ad]]