Why the wingnuts hate Plan B

Why the wingnuts hate Plan B

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/04/why_the_wingnuts_hate_plan_b.php
<http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2006/04/why_the_wingnuts_hate_plan_b.php>

or
http://lists.riseup.net/www/arc/pbnberkeley/2006-05/msg00011.html

There has been an oddly evasive struggle going on in
Washington DC for the last several years. We have a
safe, easy method of emergency contraception that has
been turned into a political football, with Republicans
playing their usual role of criminally stupid thugs,
trying to crush a simple idea: Plan B contraception. It
illustrates exactly how the Religious Right is trying to
intrude on your private life, and in particular, how
they want to control women.

I'll explain how Plan B works, but to do so I'm going to
have to explain some basics of the hormonal control of
the menstrual cycle.

This [go to original to see illustration -- moderator]
is a fairly complicated but typical diagram illustrating
the various organs, hormones, and changes that go on in
the menstrual cycle. At the top is the master gland, the
pituitary, that secretes regulatory hormones; below that
is a diagram of the changes in the ovary; below that is
a diagram of changes in the lining of the uterus; and
finally, at the very bottom, is a graph of the
concentration of various hormones in the blood during
the phases of the cycle.

Intimidating, I know. My students are going to get
grilled on this in the next month, and will have to
memorize it all and much more, but here I will give you
the greatly simplified version.

Forget the uterus for the moment. It's the most familiar
part of the story to most women; as you can see in the
diagram, there is a thickening of the lining over the
course of a month, and then that lining is abruptly
sloughed off in the actual process of menstruation. It's
overt, but it's actually a symptom, not a cause, of the
more interesting things going on in the ovary.

The ovary contains a supply of eggs. One egg each month
begins to ripen and mature into a large structure called
a follicle, regulated by a hormone from the pituitary
called Follicle Stimulating Hormone, FSH. The follicle
is going to produce estrogen, which is what causes the
growth of the uterine lining. FSH is particularly
important early in the cycle.

A second pituitary hormone, Luteinizing Hormone, assists
in stimulating the mature follicle, and in particular, a
rapid surge in LH is what triggers the follicle to pop,
releasing the egg, in a process called ovulation. This
is a key step, so remember this: a spike in LH levels
triggers ovulation.

After ovulation, the egg goes on its way, and might be
fertilized, leading to pregnancy. The follicle left
behind isn't done yet, though; it becomes a structure
called the corpus luteum, which continues to produce
estrogen (necessary to maintain the uterine lining), and
also gradually produces more and more progesterone.
Progesterone helps maintain the uterine lining, but also
suppresses LH production by the pituitary. It's a kind
of timer. The corpus luteum is maintained by the levels
of LH, but the corpus luteum also produces rising levels
of progesterone, which shut off LH...and when too little
LH is produced, the corpus luteum shuts down, no
estrogen and progesterone are produced, the uterine
lining is no longer maintained, and a woman finds a
bloody mess in her panties.

The key thing to remember about this part, though, is
that progesterone suppresses LH.

Put two pieces of the story together: a spike in LH
levels triggers ovulation and progesterone suppresses
LH. Hmmm. This suggests an idea. If you wanted to
prevent ovulation, how would you do it?

(Consider this a test. Imagine that Jeopardy jingle
playing right now.)

Time's up-I bet everyone came up with the right answer,
though. Giving someone a large dose of progesterone
would shut down LH production, so there would be no
ovulation, so no egg would be released, and any sperm
happening to be in the woman's reproductive tract would
find nothing to fertilize.

You have just figured out what is called Plan B
contraception. It is a form of birth control that tells
the woman's ovaries to hold off on releasing any eggs
for a short while. It's called emergency contraception,
because it is used by a woman who has, for whatever
reason (rape, a broken condom, misplaced enthusiasm,
second thoughts, anything) had unwanted sperm in her
reproductive tract, and she wants to make sure that this
isn't the moment her ovaries happen to pop a follicle.

Plan B is not an abortion.

Plan B doesn't help if one is already pregnant, and it
doesn't affect any implanted zygotes. Pregnant women
produce progesterone naturally.

Plan B gives women the ability to control, to a limited
extent, when they will expel a gamete. In purely
reproductive terms, it's a bit like a male's ability to
control when he will ejaculate, or expel his gametes.
That's it. No fertilized zygotes are involved, so that
level of the birth control debate isn't even relevant.
It's simple, responsible, and safe. You'd have to be
insane to object to Plan B.

So why are Republicans holding it up?

This is an issue on which we can completely ignore any
assertion that life begins at fertilization (which I
personally find absurd), because it's irrelevant:
fertilization doesn't take place. No zygote, no fetus,
no embryo, no babies. The claim that this argument is
about the life of a baby is null and void, and the
opposition to Plan B makes it glaringly, brilliantly
clear that this isn't about the sanctity of life at all:
it's all about controlling a woman's ovaries. She will
not be allowed to tamper with the timing of ovulation.

The ugly intent of the right wing fundies is unmasked
right here, with no phony piety to hide their goals.
They want the power to regulate a woman's physiology
against her will.

What contraceptive method do you use? If it's not
abstinence, you ought to realize that these kooks will
be after you, next.

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