Planned Parenthood to Give Morning-After Pill

Planned Parenthood of Orange County soon will begin providing a pill that can terminate possible pregnancies for up to three days after intercourse, a spokeswoman for the organization said Friday.

The “morning after” pill, which already is available by prescription from several Orange County hospitals and private doctors, will be available at Planned Parenthood offices in Costa Mesa, Santa Ana, Mission Viejo and Garden Grove beginning in November or December, said Margie Fites Seigle, executive director of Planned Parenthood of Orange and San Bernardino Counties.

“This is something that can be used in an emergency situation, like rape or when a condom breaks,” Seigle said. “It can be done much earlier than an abortion.”

Seigle said the decision to provide the pill was made by the group’s nine-member medical board this spring. About 40 of the organization’s 177 affiliates nationwide already offer it, she said.

The morning-after pill, Ovral, which is made by the Wyeth company of Philadelphia, has been used for several years as a birth-control pill, said a spokesman for the Food and Drug Administration. Taken in heavier dosages after intercourse, it makes uterine walls harden so that, if a fertilized egg is present, it will pass through.

Ovral is currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration as one of about 35 types of hormonal birth-control pills but is still awaiting approval for use after copulation, Seigle said. It can cause birth deformities if used after a pregnancy is already under way.

“Before anyone can receive the pill, they will be subject to a full medical exam, a medical history, and there will be an assessment to see there has been sex in the last 24 hours,” Seigle said. “We think it’s safe.”

Seigle also said a pregnancy test will be given to any woman who requests the pill to assure that a pregnancy is not already in progress.

Critics charge that the pill is a type of very early abortion and that it presents an undue threat to the mother.

“I just don’t think they should be experimenting with a product before they know what will happen,” said Lorraine Klein, director of the Santa Ana Right to Life Center. “There will be kids who take this two or three days, or a month later, and there just isn’t the control there.”

Planned Parenthood officials are writing guidelines for the group’s four physicians and nine nurse practitioners to prescribe the pill.