Pay no attention to how great Planned Parenthood thought Plan B was 5 minutes ago
Just notice its sparkly new (and expensive) Plan C
In 2005, after the FDA under President George W. Bush resisted liberal pressure to make the hormonal emergency contraceptive Plan B available over-the-counter, Planned Parenthood was furious, claiming unfettered access to hormonal ECs would cut the number of abortions in America by a whopping 67%, from 1.2 million annually to 400,000:
Experts estimate that wider access to EC could prevent up to 1.7 million unintended pregnancies a year – and 800,000 abortions.
In 2006, when the FDA caved, Planned Parenthood again made this same colossal claim. Actually, PP alleged those figures often. The Chicago Tribune, when repeating those stats, said they came from “experts cited by Planned Parenthood.”
I could never find those experts. But the Guttmacher Institute wrote in 2002 the figures came from a “hypothetical scenario calculated in the late 1980s.”
So they were made up.
The “hypothetical scenario” was pitched with all evidence to the contrary, as presented in testimony to the FDA in 2004 by a team from Concerned Women for America that included me. We reported that in Scotland, where EC prescriptions increased 300% between 1992-99, there was no decrease in abortions. In Lothian, where condoms and ECs were distributed in schools with wild abandon, teen pregnancies rose 10% in one year. Other studies have since drawn the same conclusions.
Nevertheless, Planned Parenthood and sex pushers ultimately got their way. Plan B is now available OTC to anyone, any age.
But suddenly Planned Parenthood has turned against Plan B. The timing appears at first blush to coincide with a November 25 revelation in Mother Jones that emergency contraceptive pills composed of levonorgestrel, like Plan B, don’t work for overweight women:
[T]he drug is completely ineffective for women who weigh more than 176 pounds and begins to lose effectiveness in women who weigh more than 165 pounds….
Data for the years 2007 to 2010 show the average weight of American women 20 years and older is 166.2 pounds….
It turns out Plan B is just a placebo for the majority of women.
Thus, as reported by National Partnership for Women & Families on December 3:
Planned Parenthood affiliates have launched a nationwide campaign to educate women and clinicians about two emergency contraceptive methods that can be used instead of Plan B One-Step, United Press International reports.
The effort comes as FDA reviews reports that levonorgestrel – the active ingredient in the most widely used EC products, including Plan B One-Step – begins losing effectiveness in women who weigh more than 165 pounds….
The Planned Parenthood campaign, called EC4U, aims to spread awareness about ParaGard, a copper intrauterine device, and ella, a newer EC pill that uses the hormone ulipristal acetate instead of levonorgestrel.
Planned Parenthood knew about Plan B’s obesity problem
But in reality, Planned Parenthood has been planning its “EC4U” campaign for some time.
A video Planned Parenthood released in September presented the EC4U campaign to affiliates and made some profound admissions:
When the FDA approved the first dedicated emergency contraceptive pills, the hope was that widespread use could reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and abortion in the United States by half. But the reality is nothing has changed. In fact, almost half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended….
Did you know that over-the-counter progestin EC pills like Plan B may not be effective for women who are overweight?
Did you know that these same pills are probably only effective for 3 days after unprotected sex?
It may be easier at times to just sell the over-the-counter product, but it may not be the right choice for every woman in every situation.
In fact, it’s probably not the best method.
Which is why we developed EC4U….
… to push copper IUDs as the new EC. Oh, PP may say it also likes ella, but given the choice between making $500 to $1,000 for an IUD, versus $30-$65 for ella, which do you think PP prefers? Plus, ella is not effective for overweight women either (read here and here). It’s just a matter of time before it, too, falls out of favor.
Evidence of PP’s plan to push IUDs as the new EC comes from an internal PP memo I have obtained that was distributed to affiliates in September. Click to enlarge:
Was Planned Parenthood the leak?
My educated guess is it was actually Planned Parenthood that gave Mother Jones the tip on the ineffectiveness of Plan B – but only after it had all its ducks in a row to get free media coverage for the lucrative lemonade it planned to squeeze from the Plan B lemon.
Let’s connect the dots. Over 1-1/2 years ago, in May 2012, U.S. News & World Report reported on research by James Trussell, pictured right, “a professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University,” who found the IUD “is safe and actually more effective for emergency contraception than the morning-after pill,” in part because “some research has found that the pills don’t work in women who are overweight.”
Trussell was quoted in the aforementioned Mother Jones article as a Princeton professor but also “a senior fellow with the Guttmacher Institute,” Planned Parenthood’s research arm.
Turns out Trussell is also on the National Medical Committee of Planned Parenthood Federation of America as well as the board of directors of NARAL. And he shows up at :56 on PP’s EC4U video.
So PP apparently had information long ago that Plan B was problematic but didn’t say anything until it had worked out a plan to 1) extract a profit from the bad news, and 2) distract the press from noticing how wrong it had been to falsely proclaim the merits of Plan B. This includes the fact that Plan B was never tested on overweight women.
Even if Plan B didn’t have an obesity problem, PP had internal evidence that emergency contraceptives were an epic fail long ago. John Jansen of Pro-Life Action League posted startling figures way back in September 2011:
As the number of EC kits distributed by PP went up – a lot, 313% – its abortion numbers should have come down. But they didn’t. As John noted, “Planned Parenthood’s annual number of abortions increased every single year, and by 36% over the course of these six years.”
Despite all this, PP hailed a federal judge’s decision earlier this year to force the FDA to make Plan B available OTC to children. But Plan B should never have been offered for sale OTC to adults, let alone children. It should immediately be taken off the shelves.
Why abortion industry groups pushed the widespread distribution of a terribly faulty contraceptive product has yet to be revealed. Down on the Pharm theorizes, “Perhaps this was a crony capitalist effort to help manufacturers snap up as much profit as they could before the general news came out that the drug is not reliable….” Perhaps those with stock in Teva were hoping for a bump up in price followed by a quick sell before the crash. Perhaps PP had a stockpile of Plan B it needed to get rid of.
Whatever the malfeasant reasons are, some day they will be known.
Nevertheless, only now are they saying anything. From the UPI, November 30:
Dr. Deborah Nucatola, [pictured right], senior director of medical services at the Planned Parenthood Federation of America [and an abortionist], said Plan B hasn’t made a dent in the one-half of U.S. pregnancies that are unintended.
There are two main theories why, Nucatola said: The women who most need Plan B aren’t using it when they are actually at highest risk for pregnancy – soon after having sex – or they are not using it effectively.
This is the same Deborah Nucatola who wrote in a CNN op ed only eight months ago, after Plan B became available OTC for all ages:
Lifting these restrictions will allow emergency contraception to be stocked on store shelves, making it more accessible to everyone. It will provide a safe, effective way to prevent pregnancy and reduce the need for abortion
That’s why last week’s ruling is so important – it’s based on good science and good sense. And that’s a fact.
Such liars they are! Argh…
I never understood why PP wanted to make Plan B available OTC to begin with, basically giving away its corner on the market.
But now PP is taking it back. The IUD can only be inserted by medical professionals, and ella is only available by prescription, so these are two EC funding streams Planned Parenthood can keep in-house.
But the copper IUD, which is the type recommended for EC and particularly when used as EC, can cause abortions. The copper IUD has no impact on ovulation. It only stops pregnancy after an egg has been released.
From the prescription information:
Ideas about how ParaGard® works include preventing sperm from reaching the egg, preventing sperm from fertilizing the egg, and possibly preventing the egg from attaching (implanting) in the uterus. ParaGard® does not stop your ovaries from making an egg (ovulating) each month.
As an abortion device, the copper IUD creates a hostile environment for the implanting 5-to-9-day-old human. Even Planned Parenthood, which is loathe to admit the abortion properties of any contraceptive admits the likelihood:
Ongoing use of the copper IUD prevents fertilization by releasing copper, which alters fluids in the uterus and fallopian tubes to act as spermicide. In theory, ongoing use of the copper IUD may prevent implantation by thinning the endometrial lining of the uterus, but there is no scientific evidence that this actually happens. Emergency insertion of a copper IUD may work somewhat differently than ongoing use. It may prevent fertilization, but it may also prevent implantation.
The IUD has the potential to net more revenue for PP than a than a first trimester abortion. The IUD costs as much or more, and it can be inserted by PP clinicians (not doctors) at any clinic, not just abortion clinics.
And unlike most abortions, the IUD is covered by most state Medicaid programs and now by Obamacare.
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
I still know people who think that Plan B is super effective even after all evidence shows it’s not, for most people. :/ I really hope people aren’t relying on it.
And the average American woman is 166 pounds? Wow. I think you have to be a little over 5’8 for that to be a healthy BMI.
I wonder what they will deploy as Plan D when there turns out to be some flaw with Plan C.
Jack, it’s brilliant marketing, actually. Evilly brilliant. Because they spent so much time and energy touting it to be effective and because of the name (PlanB sounds so confident!), the idea that it is effective has already worked its way into the public conscience. People more than likely do and will rely on it….. And then it will fail.
And then, because they used PlanB and tried to stop to the Pregnancy…. it’s off to the abortion clinic. :( It’s quite tragic but I think that’s how it plays out. And probably why they lied about it.
Nice comprehensive scoop there, Jill.
Yes, the Pharm carries B.C. news that lay people can use, and had the early alerts onnon-efficacy of morning after pills, including Ella. Over the years it has been interesting to watch efficacy estimates of morning after pills drop as the average weight of women increased, until they rated below the withdrawal method.
Listen up, and listen good. This weight based efficacy problem applies to other birth control pills too. Pill proponents secretly hope that the products eventually accumulate within the larger women and eventually become more effective, but they also excuse failures by citing a missed dose. They can’t pinpoint when, after initiation of therapy, the efficacy will become acceptable in a woman of a specified weight.
The efficacy of progestin drugs is said to depend on constant levels, and taking the pill at the same TIME each day. So, fess up, pill sellers. Quit lying about efficacy. The unintended pregnancy rate is NEVER going to be reduced by taking poorly effective birth control drugs.
Thanks for highlighting that Ella is also not working for bigger girls because the product is designed for women who are 130 lbs or less, and even in that population the efficacy is not super. The manufacturer’s original report to the European drug regulatory agency reveals much about rationale, mechanism and efficacy. The problem is that regulators either don’t know how to read that stuff, or $$$ they don’t care$$$.
so instead of plan B u go to PP and they inset an IUD for EC?? So do they say how long after unprotected sex?? I had an IUD several years ago and it nearly killed me. had to be surgically removed.
IUDs freak me out, if I had a uterus there’s no way I would let one get inserted. I can’t imagine how people would be okay with them, they even look terrifying. I hope my daughter never wants to get one when she’s older, I wouldn’t allow it while she lived in my house but who knows what would happen when she’s an adult.
In case y’all haven’t heard about the Argentina protest, here’s an interesting take on it.
http://threeguysoneblog.com/2013/12/evil-world-live/
Wow…. sorry about the viagra cialis spam showing on my linkage to your blog. The spammers are hitting me hard.
Won’t hurt my feelings if you delete.
I agree Jack that copper thing looks scary. My childbearing years are over, but I never had any desire to have something like that inside me!
Jack, you can weigh more and still have a healthy BMI. I am not as skinny as I was before I had children but on my wedding day I was very thin. People could not believe I weighed as much as I did and kept saying there was no way. I was so thin! But I have “concrete bones”. My oldest son is very tall for his age (I am NOT tall) but he has my concrete bones. He has always weighed more than he looked. As a baby people would go to pick him up and then gasp and say “What are you doing? Putting rocks in his diaper?”
So 166 pounds on a short woman may not mean anything. Also, I am chubbier than I was a few years ago but have been to the doctor lately and still fall into the “normal” BMI. It doesn’t mean much I think. Too much attention focused on it. Women aren’t supposed to be emaciated sticks. Weight isn’t a bad thing (not talking obesity or anything).
I know this has nothing to do with this story and I’m sorry! I just had to get that off my chest! Ha ha.
Oh and I agree with you Jack about the IUD. The do look terrifying! And knowing the can poke nasty holes in women’s uteri (is that a word?). Why any woman would choose that as a contraceptive is beyond me! Blech!
I am not sleeping right now because there is an OWL–an owl!!! Right outside my bedroom window and he is LOUD. :-) I just didn’t expect an owl in my suburban tree on a snowy winter’s night.
Hi Sydney, I wasn’t meaning to be offensive or insult anyone’s weight, I think people’s bodies are between them and their doctor. I was just thinking of the BMI calculator, I realize there are variables and such. I was just surprised that the average weight was something that’s in the “normal” BMI range at like 5’8. Healthy was probably the wrong word, people can be healthy at larger sizes of course. I have the opposite problem, my BMI is always just barely above underweight which annoys me. It’s not my fault I have bird bones!
And owls are creepy lol. But I like them.
Pharmer, thanks for the compliment. Means a lot coming from you. You have been on top of all this for a long time.
You betcha, Jill. It was cool how you OUTED the scam of PP’s Ella and Para Gard campaign, and hilarious that they loaded their video to Youtube waaaay before the leftie Mother Jones announced the old news about Plan B.
Marketing has been easy for Planned Parenthood with the old media in their pocket, but now with the NEW media, things might be rougher.
Jill, isn’t this criminal fraud?
Sydney I totally agree… Within reason, the whole BMI thing is a little ridiculous. I’m super shot (a Hobbit, really, especially now that my feet have grown thanks to pregnancy…) and so I think my “goal” weight is about 110 pounds. LOL. That won’t happen. And yet! Even weighing more than that, I look healthy and am healthy and take care of myself. Also, I wonder if part of that “average” includes pregnant women and moms because there’s definitely a phase in a woman’s life where more weight is necessary to take care of that baby. ;) If so, that would skewer the average. Also babies are getting bigger so pregnant women tend to weigh more. And then there’s the fluids and such…. And are people getting taller??
Haha okay sorry.
And yes, IUDs are scary. I am so not comfortable with jamming something up there and just leaving it for years…. No, thanks. I’m good.
And I love owls!!! But they are a little spooky. But so ooooo beautiful. I want a pet owl. I should get more sleep. My brain is on hyper drive.
Chris – what, that PP knew Plan B didn’t work for the majority of women but kept pushing it anyway?
Yeah, they had a study showing it not to work and delayed releasing the information, I don’t know if it’s criminal but wouldn’t that be grounds for a lawsuit by someone who became pregnant after using Plan B? I’m thinking PP, but maybe also the drug maker? They profited by knowingly giving people false information that impacted their health, it appears. Also, I wonder what the FDA regulations are with follow-up studies, if they are mandated to report it to them. Perhaps they already did and the FDA sat on it, or the media refused to report on it. I doubt however anything will happen, our political system sees no evil unless an abortionist really, truly screws up. Even then…
I am not sleeping right now because there is an OWL–an owl!!! Right outside my bedroom window and he is LOUD.
Might be a hoot owl. They are pretty common. They make a sound like “who cooks for youoo? Who cooks for yooou?” At first I thought it was interesting and quaint but they are quite loud and I felt like shouting AW SHADDUP after awhile.
This reminds me of the “data massage” of the safety trials that Pfizer engaged in to make money from the arthritis drug Celebrex back around 2000. They withheld part of the drug trial data to make it look like a healthy choice. They made billions $$$ from the deception.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/25/health/in-documents-on-pain-drug-celebrex-signs-of-doubt-and-deception.html?ref=celebrexdrug&_r=0
Of course there were financial interests (like pension funds and other stock holders) willing to go up against the lawyers of big Phama like Pfizer for their fraud…so the truth came out in court. Who is going to challenge PP over this after what happened to Phil Kline and Komen for the Cure? PP knows what they can get away with.