seeing as this is a rather sensitive topic, and i'm not a female...

not gonna touch this with a 10-foot pole.

Not necessarily on this topic, but something that does perturb me is our unwillingness to stick with logical, well-reasoned, fallacy-free argumentation and discussion. And once we have a conclusion, supported by unimpeachable facts and reasoning, we can't stick with it. We flutter like a leaf in the breeze at the next idea that comes along and contradicts our conclusion.

The "We" I'm really commenting on also doesn't exist strictly. It's more of the generalized societal consensus portrayed in the media as representing all Americans. I'm sure if (any two real people) had a well reasoned debate, we could walk away from it convinced. But that's just two of us.

The real question becomes, why don't the people guarding the gates of information broadcasting (the news media?) get more fierce about defending the truth? I'm thinking of something you see really rarely in the mainstream media, or even in the cable media. Sometimes you get a ray of hope from Jon Stewart or Stephen Colbert, or folks like those. But more often than not you get a mishmash. The answer to the question of why here is probably advertizing and the business model that surrounds the media. Good luck with that one. Well, it is the free market, more or less.

So if it is the free market, then it is only materially influenced by demand (remember, economic demand is not just what we want, but what we are willing and able to buy.)

Therefore, only when people start demanding the truth, will it become a staple of the evening news.

Here's to some productive public discourse.

The real question here is why even use the tag abortion when plan b does not cause an abortion. RU-486 on the other hand, another controversial drug does in fact induce an abortion.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency_contraception#Emergency_contraception_in_relation_to_abortion

At any rate, the fight against Plan B seems to stem from a male desire to limit a womans ability to control herself. However, as pho3n1x put it he's not a woman, and neither am I so its quite possible that my ideas are claptrap as well.

I agree. I, being male, do not feel that I should have any say on what a woman wants to do with her body. I feel that individually, women should choose what happens, not men. I tagged "abortion" because thats what Elizabeth (the pretty conservative blond) was saying that Plan B is. I disagree, but the media has placed Plan B and abortion on the same level.

Comment hidden because you are ignoring dag.(show it anyway)

Get the Hezbolla leader and the Israeli prime minister on The View, I think Barbara could work something out.

Except hearing "Iswayell" and "Hezbwolahh" a hundred times.

James, as Elizabeth (lady in green) says in the video, according to pro-life beliefs, it's an abortion, whether it takes place within 72 hours or 8 months. So the tag is correct.

If you want Wikipeida style NPOV tags, you can say "contested abortion" but I think that people get the point. Besides, the debate in the video seemed to touch upon the whole general pro-life/abortion debate, so it's valid on that level too, should you not want to associate plan b with it.

On a tertiary level, "plan b" gets its own tag in addition to "abortion", implying that they are seperate. That's probably the best explanation I can come up with.

IMHO, Walters really exploded in a quiet way while attacking for Elizabeth for the same reason. I doubt the US will EVER outlaw controverisal replies - the lady in green is quite articulate actually for the nuance of the Catholic position. Nothing wrong with being excited about talking about a subject many find so important.

The way Walters ended it though really felt like I heard "shut up, I don't want to hear anymore." She could've just as easily said "thanks for sharing, and now we have to go to commercial". Childish behaviour. Up-vote for exposure of it.

Krupo

From the wikipedia article

"After sex, pregnancy may occur if an egg is released and the sperm and egg meet. But the sperm are available inside the woman for days, so a woman who releases an egg one, two or three days after sex can become pregnant. If, however, she takes emergency contraception after sex but before releasing an egg, the emergency contraception will prevent the egg from being released and thus prevent pregnancy. Since pregnancy can result if emergency contraception is taken after an egg has been released, EC is not 100% effective, and it becomes less effective when there is a delay in administering it.

The emergency contraception pill should not be confused with mifepristone (also called Mifeprex, and formerly known as RU-486), an abortifacient which is taken after implantation has occurred, aborting the pregnancy. The morning-after pill must be taken before implantation, or it will have no effect.

Earlier, it was believed that emergency contraception worked by preventing blastocysts from implanting in the womb. Today, however, current medical science, as reflected in research papers published in respected medical journals, states that emergency contraception works by preventing ovulation. Recent medical studies in animals (the rat and the monkey) did not suggest that emergency contraception prevents implantation; however, this mechanism of action cannot be ruled out in all cases, as it is impossible to prove a negative."

So while there is perhaps a small chance of Plan B preventing implantation most scientists agree that it works by preventing the fertilization of an egg. The woman while strong in her convictions is espousing a view point at odds against current prevailing scientific research.

I really enjoy the chance to talk about abortion, I just think that it's important that talking points do not become the publics main impression on a subject.

She would of course no doubt still point out that it's the small chance cited that she has a problem with.

Interesting research, though, thanks for sharing - I hadn't looked into the science behind how it works and what it does.

As a partial tangent (b/c, as just shown, we don't always/usually have embryos involved with Plan B), it's interesting to see where society is venturing on the subject of the embryo: if the connection is made *(I just had an entirely off-topic link pop to mind...) you have the beginning of life.

As a result, the fact that you're playing with embryos throws moral hot water over in-vitro fertiziliation/stem-cell research - are we all just "blobs" (to quote that august source of moral philosophy, "Frasier") before emerging from the birth canal or C-section, or humans with all the attendant rights from the moment sperm hits egg?


*The off-topic-ish video that my writing inspired me to sift up: http://www.videosift.com/story.php?id=6986

lol'd at dag's comment. Seriously, is there no conflict which Barbara Walters cannot smooth over?

http://movies.crooksandliars.com/abortion1.MP3

Dear lord, make that girl shut up. Its annoying as hell that she wouldn't be quiet even when she said she was listening.

I would like to abort that woman.
infact i would go back in time and then poke her out of her mum with a coat hanger Thus avoid all the incoherant nonsence that she is spouting on tv

Pro-life beliefs are not, however, incoherent nonsense.

Mmm... civility.

*dead

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