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A Textbook Example
by Dianne N. Irving, M.A., Ph.D.
Released October 12, 2005
The following quotes from just a few human embryology text books make it perfectly clear that the use of the "morning-after pill" for contraception purposes could possibly be abortifacient if the embryo is prevented from implanting in the uterus.
Every human being begins at fertilization as a single-cell embryo - a zygote. What follows is not my opinion, nor is it a religious or a "faith" position. In fact, it is not even a "pro-life" opinion. It is hard, cold, unrelenting, objective, scientific fact - and the FDA knows it. It is way past time that pro-lifers know it and admit it too: "Human pregnancy begins with the fusion of an egg and a sperm ... Finally the fertilized egg, now properly called an embryo, must make its way into the uterus ..." (p. 3) ... "After fertilization, the preimplantation embryo remains extremely vulnerable. The "morning-after" pill, with its high estrogen content, alters the endometrium so that implantation fails to occur. Similarly, intrauterine devices (IUDs) appear to function by preventing implantation ... After implantation, birth control is accomplished by aborting the embryo. (p. 110) ... "The sex of the embryo is determined by the chromosomal complement of the spermatozoon. (If the sperm contains 22 autosomes and an X chromosomes, the embryo will be a genetic female, and if it contains 22 autosomes and a Y chromosome, the embryo will be a male. ... Through the mingling of maternal and paternal chromosomes, the zygote is a genetically unique product of chromosomal reassortment...) (p. 31)
(Bruce M. Carlson, Human Embryology and Developmental Biology; St. Louis, MO; Mosby; 1994). "Zygote: This cell results from the union of an oocyte and a sperm. A zygote is the beginning of a new human being."(p. 2)
(Keith L. Moore and T.V.N. Persaud, The Developing Human; 6th ed.; W.B. Saunders Company, Philadelphia; 1998). "Fertilization is the procession of events that begins when a spermatozoon makes contact with a secondary oocyte or its investments, and ends with the intermingling of maternal and paternal chromosomes at metaphase of the first mitotic division of the zygote... The zygote is characteristic of the last phase of fertilization and is identified by the first cleavage spindle. It is a unicellular embryo." (p. 19) ... "The embryo grows from a zygote about 0.1 mm in diameter to a complicated embryonic body approximately 3 mm in length at 3 weeks ... During the first week, the embryo becomes a solid mass of cells and then acquires a cavity, at which time it is known as a blastocyst." (p.23) [my note: it is this blastocyst - a human embryo which is a human being - which is prevented from implanting into the uterus through the action of the "morning after pill"].
(Ronan O'Rahilly and Fabiola Muller, Human Embryology & Teratology; New York, Wiley-Liss; 1994). "Fertilization takes place in the oviduct. After the oocyte finishes meiosis, the nuclei of the male and female gametes unite, resulting in the formation of a zygote containing a single diploid nucleus. Embryonic development is considered to begin at this point." (p. 1) ... "This moment of zygote formation may be taken as the beginning or zero time point of embryonic development." (p. 17)
(William J. Larsen, Human Embryology, New York; Churchill Livingstone; 1997).
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