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There's been some recent editorial page flak in my local paper about pharmacists who refuse to dispense ec. Since no one else had said it, I had to speak up. They printed it Tuesday (I think...), but without my title! scream I guess they figured I'd already said it. Anyways, my letter:

I am a pharmacy technician who has yet to complete the rigorous four years of professional school needed to hold the title of pharmacist. But even I know that the morning-after pill was never intended to induce an abortion of an already-implanted embryo or even prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg. It is intended to prevent ovulation by raising the level of estrogen in the body. No ovulation equals no conception and nothing even resembling a fetus.
I also know that if a drug is not going to be dispensed on the basis of mere potential to harm a developing fetus, the morning-after pill is far from alone in this potential. The remote possibility of an adverse effect--even a lethal one--is not a reason to refuse to dispense a drug, particularly if that drug has a greater potential to save a life. Women who use the morning-after pill do so because they are dead set against becoming pregnant. If they do become pregnant because they were denied a way to prevent it, there is nothing anyone can do to stop them from obtaining an abortion. The morning-after pill does not cause abortions, it prevents them, and because of this I am happy to dispense it.

Anna (last name withheld here), CPhT.

Um...did you mean before sex?

The morning after pill is the same hormones that are in regular daily birth control, just in a higher dose to make absolutely sure your hormone levels are at the point where you won't ovulate. And yes, both versions can stop a fertilized egg from implanting, but for an egg to be fertilized in the first place, the drug would have to fail at its intended purpose, preventing ovulation. Because it prevents ovulation (like I said in the letter), you're more likely to have a spontaneous abortion, or a fertilized egg that doesn't implant, if you're *not* on birth control (and sexually active, of course).