and you can take a pill the morning after and the fertilization will not yet have occurred? the sperm are that slow? am I missing something?

Verifable science end a debate with Republicans? Not likely. The Republicans are pushing for birth control not to be legal and re-dating the Scopes Trial of 1927. By the 2016 election, expect a debate about the planet being round if the Koch Brothers think it might enrich their pocketbooks.

Interesting. So a couple undergoing IVF treatments would be able to take the morning after pill with no effects, because conception has already happened at the time the zygote is introduced. I wonder if there have been any animal studies of this in particular.

@1- sperm can live in a woman for up to 5 days. She may not have ovulated by the morning after.

The Right will simply counter this scientific evidence by stating that, once the man has planted his seed in the furrow of the woman's nether-bits, it is GOD'S WILL that those sperm therefore have the right to fulfill their GOD-GIVEN DESTINY to become a fetus.

Shortly after which, GOP state representatives around the country will begin introducing "full human rights for sperm & ovum" legislation...

@1,

The morning after pill prevents ovulation, not fertilization of an already released egg.

Well. Part of the confusion here is because of semantics. The real "morning after" pill (RU-whateverthefuckitis) does, indeed, prevent implantation of fertilized eggs. But that's not legal here. What you're talking about is Plan B, which is an entirely different thing.

My theory is that because they don't know *exactly* how it works in every case, and they can't rule out that it might do that, ever, they include that "implantation of a fertilized egg" verbiage. Because *if* it ever does that and they don't include it, someone would likely sue their asses off. Though how they'd prove it is likely beyond us at this point.

Kind of like how they have to say on soap bottles that eating it may lead to death, though how in the fuck someone could eat enough soap to cause death is questionable.

Masturbation is murder.

Be that as it may, it's insane to equate destroying a zygote (many of which are destroyed by the woman's body before they implant, buy the way) with murder.

A fertilized egg is NOT a person, any more than any other single cell is a person. It is a cell with the special property of being a potential person, but aside from that it's very much like any cell anywhere in your body. Think about the normal criteria for what constitutes a person. Whatever your criteria, it's likely that a zygote fulfills none of them (unless you believe that a zygote possesses a soul, in which case you believe in fairy tales IMO). It doesn't have a heart, a brain, feelings, or any recognizable features of a person.

And if your argument is that preventing a new human being from forming at all is the same as murder, well, then masturbation really is murder. In fact, if a woman says "not tonight honey" when she's ovulating, that should be considered murder too.

I've had an IUD for 10 years. A few different IUDs, but y'all know what I mean. That happy little bastard in my womb makes sure that nothing else takes hold in my womb. Women in my family are notoriously fertile. Sneeze in one of our general directions, and someone could be calling you daddy next year. Potentially, theoretically, I've had 120 abortions. Is that a record?

If we're going to stetch it to life begins at the point when there is a viable cell to be fertilized, then every female is pregnant at birth.

*by the way. Dammit.

The GOP has never let facts stop them before, why let it now? When they're wrong, the just shout or filibuster until the other person gives up.

Ob Gyn here:
The kind of Emergency Contraception used in my country is based on the progestagen Levonorgestrel. Same used for Mini-Pills for breastfeeding women. Since it's a progestagen (a progestin derived drug) it wouldn't actually harm HUMAN zygotes. The initial confusion derives from earlier studies (Yale studies in the late 60's if I remember right) that showed Levonorgestrel could have an anti implantatory efect in MICE AND RABBITS. The reproduction of such animals is quite diffrent from human's and those studies were fast left behind. Catholics are trying to use these kind of arguments since then, though.

As far as IUD's go, there are two kinds: the copper ones DO NOT CAUSE ABORTIONS. The copper in them is toxic for sperm, and the actual rate of fertilization while using one is very small, as studied in monkeys. The other kind of IUD's, the progestin ones, act pretty much like mini pills do, avoiding ovulation.
just my nerd intervention for the day.
thanks for listening.

Even if it did stop implantation of a fertilized egg (which happens all the time by the way), that fertilized egg is akin to a paramecium. It has less ability to feel or think or react than the mosquito did before it hit your windshield. It is less like a human being than a cup of yogurt. You violently end more life with every footstep than is in a fertilized egg. It's not a person.

@17: Sorry, is "paramecium" too big a word for you?

Actually, 5280, RU-486 is a full-on abortion drug (frequently referred to as a "medically-induced abortion") that can be administered up to 6 weeks of pregnancy, and will almost always cause, essentially "miscarriage." It is 100% legal here, but is expensive and must be administered by a doctor. The morning after pill is Plan B, prevents pregnancy in the first place, and is only effective for, at most, 72 hours after *sex*. It is also 100% legal here, but any woman 17 or older can pick it up from a pharmacy without a prescription, and take the medication at home, on her own.

@19: If I wanted my own comeback, I'd have wiped it off your mother's chin.
Do you even know what a paramecium is? (NIGHTMARE MODE: no Googling allowed)

@20 RU-486 can be used (in a lower dose) as an emergency contraceptive as well. It's dual purpose.