False Advertising

Last night I was watching TV while my husband read behind me. I think I was watching Scrubs because I really could have used a laugh last night. Too bad that is not what happened - stupid commercial breaks! This is the first time that I have seen a commercial for Plan B or emergency contraception. They ran that add as a backup plan after contraception failure or unprotected sex. They made it look like it was simple and wouldn't cause many side effects even though it is a lot stronger than any birth control pill (how do you think it could work in just a couple days and after the fact).

What pushed me over the top was when they said it would not cause an existing pregnancy to fail. I knew that was a lie and practically yelled at the TV. My husband asked me what was wrong and I told him about their false advertising. So how can they get away with saying that? I looked back on a previous post of mine to find out. Mainly, plan B works by loading your body with hormones to prevent ovulation, but there is a second option that I explained in a previous post....

The second option would be defined as an abortifacient. To get around this tricky word, proponents of the drug define pregnancy as the time when the fertilized egg implants to the uterine lining. However, science agrees that the genetic makeup of the new child is complete once the egg is fertilized and before it implants to the mother's uterus.

How can this misleading add go on tv? Who let them get away with changing the time that pregnancy occurs? Plan B definitely works by destroying the fertilized egg (which they say is not pregnancy) a small percentage of the time. And I'm sure only a small percentage of the time is it actually needed which is almost just as sad. Girls as young as 17 can get this over the counter and some will take it when they are not fertile and have no chance of becoming pregnant. It is a shame that their bodies will go through all that for nothing and that a commercial makes it seem like it is as simple as buying and taking something like cough syrup. I wish pro-life groups had more money so we could make fancy commercials that gave the whole truth and listed other options. I have to believe that most girls and women do this to their bodies because they think it is the only way they can keep living their life. There is information out there but it is many times extremely hard to find and I hope to help change that.