They are calling RU-486 the "Morning After" Abortion Pill

[HockeyMom]

I heard this TWICE today regarding the two women who died taking RU-485.

I heard them used interchangeably this morning on my local radio station (Long Island). I called my local radio station. Later today, I heard MSNBC say the same thing. "RU-486 is more commonly know as the Morning After Abortion Pill". TWICE from two difference news sources cannot be a mistake. They are purposely putting out misinformation to the public.

The Morning After Pill is NOT ABORTION. There is no damned fetus 72 HOURS after unprotected sex. Hell, in 99.9% of the times is isn't even a UNFERTILIZED EGG.

What is going on? Are they trying now to confuse the public? Is this more Fundie propaganda against BIRTH CONTROL?

Call or write to MSNBC. These LIES must STOP. Don't let them get away with calling Morning After BIRTH CONTROL an ABORTION DRUG.

[ThoughtCriminal]

1. Yes and Yes.

It is not an accidental mistake.

[thinkingwoman]

2. It's not just MSNBC...heard it on CNN too

this morning. Thought my ears were clogged and I'd heard wrong.

Somebody is actively pushing this propaganda and it must be stopped!

[TomInTib]

7. It started last night on Anderson Cryboy Vanderbilt Cooper

I sent CNN several emails about this. One is posted farther down in this thread.

We should all do this and get everyone we know to do same.

[babylonsister]

3. I also heard about this; I wonder if they'll start reporting

deaths from self-induced abortions when that starts to happen again?:-(

[aden_nak]

4. I call this ignorance rather than misinformation for MOST of the media.

The very serious-minded on the left and the right understand the distinction, but for all the blow-dried heads in the middle, I have serious doubts as to whether they realize how incorrect or inaccurate they are being. The term "Morning After Abortion Pill" came from the purposeful right, however. So it's no excuse that the middle parrots it without educating themselves on it. But I do honestly think there's at least as much stupid as there is evil here.

[TomInTib]

6. It is NOT ignorance. This is a coordinated, synchronized message.

No way all these people on CNN, MSNBC, radio, etc., came out at the same time with this misinformation.

Their target(s) are not informed people, but the majority - the stupids.

[aden_nak]

9. But that's my point.

It was a coordinated message by the very loud, obnoxious right wing minority. But the lazy-ass fake journalists we have in this country are content to just parrot the lie rather than even find out whether it's accurate or not.

[TomInTib]

10. OK, I get it..

I was just reading the black-and-white, being barely awake at the time.

Blame it on Ambien.

[aden_nak]

11. Nah, I explained it half-assed the first time. :P

[TomInTib]

5. Here is my email to CNN/Anderson Cooper from last night

I was astonished to hear that woman (Elizabeth somebody) say that on 360 last night.

We should blitz them.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=691542&mesg_id=691688

[ovidsen]

8. "Morning After" is correct. "Abortion pill" is not. n/t

[kestrel91316]

12. Well, not quite. RU-486 is NOT for use "the morning after".

Plan B is the "morning after" emergency contraception. It's a megadose of regular birth control pills. It PREVENTS pregnancy.

RU-486 (I forget the proprietary name for it) which has been in the news lately because of deaths from use of one component intravaginally is for medical abortion. It TERMINATES an existing pregnancy, typically around the time a woman realizes she is pregnant, after say 6-8 weeks. It is a two-stage drug combination.

[TheMightyFavog]

13. Cripes, I read somewhere...

That a higher percentage of people had died from taking Viagra than RU-486.

[Beaverhausen]

14. I heard it - even on my local news

I agree it's fundie propaganda.

[BloodedOberon]

15. I checked

RU-486 DOES cause an abortion, up to 49 days after the start of the last menstrual cycle. In other words, it's for girls who've just realized that their monthly friend's gone on strike, and can react to it quickly.

It's not that abortion's wrong. It's that, in this case, the talking heads are semi-right: even though RU-486 isn't a "morning-after" anything, it's not there to prevent pregnancy. It's there to terminate an unwanted pregnancy early on.

[HockeyMom]

16. RU-486 IS an abortion pill

Plan B, Morning After is NOT the same pill. That was my point. Morning After is exactly what it says. You take it within 72 hours AFTER sex. It will NOT abort a pregnancy, certainly not up to 7 weeks AFTER.

You don't want to buy Morning After Pills? Get a month's script of ORDINARY BIRTH CONTROL PILLS, take 2 or 3 a day for a couple of days, and there is your Morning After Pill. All it is is some high powered MARKETING SCHEME.

There is nothing new or extraordinary about the Morning After Pill. What do these people think women do who already are on the pill and forget to take them? DOUBLE UP = Morning After Pill.

My feeling is that this is a sneaky, underhanded way to ban BIRTH CONTROL. ALL chemical birth control.

[Leeny]

17. It's all in the semantics

It's like when they say "pro abortion" instead of "pro choice". I am NOT pro abortion, I don't advocate for abortion. I advocate for choice. It's my choice, my decision, my right.

It is intentional when they use language like "pro abortion" and "morning after abortion pill". If they say it enough, and people hear it often enough, it becomes part of the discussion.

Pisses me off, ya know!

[Name removed]

18. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Donald Ian Rankin]

19. It's a morning after / abortion pill, as I understand it.

RU-486 can, I believe, be used as either a morning-after contraceptive, or (in larger doses, in the first 49 days of pregnancy) as an abortifacient, so I think it's fair, albeit slightly misleading to call it a "morning after/abortion pill".

But the slash is vital.

What it isn't is a pill that can induce an abortion the morning after, because no such thing exists - at that stage there's nothing to abort.