Controversy surrounds a newly approved pill to prevent pregnancy.
The Food and Drug Administration is clearing the way for a new abortion drug called ella (also known as ellaOne and ulipristal) to be approved and used as a new ‘morning after pill’ to prevent pregnancy.
According to the FDA, ella, made by French drug maker HRA Pharma, appears to work with no unexpected side effects however the American Association of Pro Life Obstetricians & Gynecologists and Americans United for Life disagree. Both groups have filed papers with the FDA asking the agency not to approve the drug for over the counter sales.
The documents show that ella or ulipristal acts as an abortion drug.
Anna Glasier, of NHS Lothian in Edinburgh, led a study of more than 5,500 women in the UK published online in The Lancet medical journal. It found fewer pregnancies among those women given the ellaOne drug within five days of intercourse.
And for women who took the drug between 3-5 days after having sex, only women taking the traditional morning after pill became pregnant. That’s because all of the women using ulipristal during that time period had abortions.