Sex Out Loud's mission is to promote healthy sexuality through sex-positive education and activism. To effectively do this across a broad range of communities, we must be cognizant of the profound ways in which various identity markers can impact sexuality, including, but certainly not limited to, sex, gender, gender identity, race, class, ethnicity, sexual orientation, ability, relationship status and religion. Working to make our events and programming more inclusive is an ever-present goal of ours, and we value the opportunity to reach out to often-marginalized groups.
Nonetheless, our goal of inclusivity must be balanced with respect for fact. Certainly, ideology makes its way into our programs; we do not and have never claimed to be a viewpoint-neutral organization. However, when a certain ideology flies in the face of current scientifically and medically accepted evidence, we are not responsible for promoting it.
Such is the case when it comes to the claim that Plan B, also called the ""morning-after pill,"" acts as an abortifacient. Plan B is not capable of terminating a pregnancy. Some individuals have trouble distinguishing Plan B from RU-486. RU-486 is ""the abortion pill,"" and it can terminate a pregnancy. Therein lies the difference between Plan B and RU-486.
As any of our program facilitators would clearly explain in a SOL program, the probable mechanisms of Plan B include preventing ovulation, thickening the cervical mucus to prevent fertilization or preventing the implantation of a fertilized egg into the endometrium (uterine lining). Which mechanism is ""the"" mechanism in any given situation will depend on a number of factors, including the stage of a woman's menstrual cycle and when she took the drug after unprotected intercourse (ideally, Plan B is taken as soon as possible following unprotected sex, but it can be taken up to five days afterward). If Plan B does prevent pregnancy, as it does in 89 percent of cases when taken in the appropriate time frame, it is impossible to know by which of the three mechanisms pregnancy prevention occurred.
If a woman has already become pregnant, Plan B will not have any effect. The American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists defines the beginning of pregnancy (or ""conception"") as the implantation of a fertilized egg in the lining of the uterus. During the time during which Plan B is effective, there is no ""pregnancy"" to terminate. Once a pregnancy is established, the body starts producing boatloads of its own hormones, and these hormones will override the hormones in Plan B. These hormones will also provide the first measurable indicator that pregnancy has begun, meaning there is no way of knowing whether an egg has been fertilized prior to taking Plan B.
As every Sex Out Loud program begins, we encourage participants to use their sexual imaginations and to recognize many of the words we casually throw around in our everyday lives have no concrete definitions and mean different things to different people. Based on our goal of inclusivity, we do our very best not to make assumptions, except for one: Our audience consists of free-thinking people capable of forming their own opinions and drawing their own conclusions when presented with factual information. If an individual chooses to define the beginning of pregnancy (which for many individuals is distinct from the beginning of life) as fertilization, that is his or her prerogative. However, the claim that Sex Out Loud ought to warn students that nonpregnant women may be having abortions insults our audience members.
To effectively discuss medical phenomena (and in this case, an FDA-regulated medication), Sex Out Loud uses correct terminology and definitions. We are proud to hold ourselves to a high standard of accuracy in the information we present, and we are not responsible for the promotion of ideologically based rejection of expert medical opinion.
Erica Andrist is a first year student in the School of Medicine and Public Health and a member of Sex Out Loud. Please send all feedback to opinion@dailycardinal.com.
