The Morning After Pill

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Biology Set F11        

What are the moral and ethical issues surrounding the prescribing of the “morning-after pill” to minors?

Daniel Rajan

What are the moral and ethical issues surrounding

the prescribing of the “pill” (morning-after pill) to minors?

Sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll; the three musketeers who pioneer the 21st century social life. 

These events are becoming a common occurrence in many youngsters’ weekly socialising acts; going to a night club, having slightly too much to drink and stumbling upon a stranger in the maddening frenzy, whom they subsequently end up having unprotected sexual intercourse with. However, when the story continues to the next morning, the previous night’s actions rush back to haunt the woman or couple, with fears of a child. An emergency exit soon appears in the form of the morning after pill; emergency contraception. This causes many young girls to have a slightly disillusioned comprehension of the words, emergency contraception, which leads to its misuse. For instance, a regular user of the morning-after pill, when asked why she has used it sixty times in less than five years replied, “We were often too drunk to have a conversation about contraception” 1. It is these kinds of statements that cause many people to voice their moral and ethical opinions regarding the morning-after pill and it’s prescription to minors.

Many find it hard to clearly define the difference between the words moral and ethical. In truth, there is only a slight distinction between the two. Moral opinions are made in more of a puritan fashion; it is either right or wrong. However, ethical opinions are voiced when moral attitudes are employed in context with the situation; the margin for ‘wrong’ is somewhat wider. 

The main advantages of the morning-after pill as to other forms of contraception are that they are highly effective (prevents pregnancies 95% of the time 10), user-friendly and need not be administered by a doctor.

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Figure 1 shows the disadvantages and advantages of the main methods of contraception.

Figure 1:

In the midst of all the moral and ethical issues surrounding the morning-after pill, many people fail to grasp the biology underlying this ‘emergency contraception.’

Firstly, conception immediately after sexual intercourse is rare. Instead, it occurs a few days after the egg(s) has/have been discharged from the ovary. This process is called ovulation. During the time between intercourse and conception itself, the   sperm continue to travel through ...

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