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'Morning-after' is contraception
To the editor, Regarding Rachel Alexander's Oct. 6 article about the health center providing the morning after pill illegally, her facts do not seem to correlate with her argument. To begin with we must define when pregnancy can be detected. Studies have found that some sperm are able to reach the egg in as little as thirty minutes, however in a 1995 study by Wilcox and Colleagues "Developmental Biology," they found that the majority of human pregnancies were a result of a six-day journey by the sperm. A series of pills taken the next morning, would in fact be preventing fertilization, since enough time has not elapsed for fertilization to occur. Perhaps before a third year law student, such as Ms. Alexander, flings Arizona state statures out at us mere, mortal students who are not as knowledgeable, she should first read them to be sure that they correspond with the facts that she is trying to convey. When quoting Arizona statutes of the definition of abortion, meaning "the use of any means to terminate the pregnancy of a female known to be pregnant with knowledge that the termination with those means will, with reasonable likelihood, cause the death of the fetus" with fetus meaning "any individual human organism from FERTILIZATION until birth" according to A.R.S. Beta 36-2152 (H) she fails to realize the medical facts that the chances of fertilization having occurred the "morning after" are very slim, and the detection of pregnancy at that stage would be quite difficult and extensive, much less an inaccurate procedure, would mean that knowingly terminating the fetus would in fact be impossible. The remainder of Ms. Alexander's article is an ill-fated attempt to pit any woman who may happen to find herself in the situation of needing this pill against the ravenous male who put her into the situation. Come on, most of us are intelligent enough to realize that except in the case of rape, it takes two to need this emergency form of contraception (which the morning after pill is, since it serves as a preventative BEFORE fertilization occurs). Accidents do happen, which is why they are refereed to as accidents, and if I were to make a grossly generalized statement which Ms. Alexander seems to be in the habit of doing, I would say that it is hardly the case that someone would plan a condom breaking.
C. Michele Copes
Kristen McCoy |
