Postinor fights for life

For more than 25 years, Emergency Contraception (EC) has been available in the world. It has been in use to prevent unintended pregnancies (estimated at 1.7 million a year) and abortions (around 800,000), and a significant number of maternal deaths. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers it as a "safe, effective and simple method of contraception," and women who have used it report "high levels of satisfaction".

In 2000, the Department of Health (DOH) approved the use of Postinor (generic name: levonorgestrel) and made it available on a limited scale to Women and Child Protection Units (WCPU) in DOH-run hospitals for rape or sexual abuse survivors.

A year later, on May 8, 2001, anti-choice groups, led by Abay Pamilya Foundation, filed a letter-complaint seeking the recall of the registration issued to the pharmaceutical company Euro Generics for Postinor on the ground that it is an abortifacient.

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Five months later, on Oct. 10, 2001, Director William Torres of the Bureau of Food and Drugs (BFAD) recommended to Health Secretary Manuel Dayrit the delisting of Postinor based on position papers submitted by Abay Pamilya, the Philippine Medical Association, the Philippine Obstetrical and Gynecological Society, and the Philippine College of Pharmaceutical Medicine. Postinor was then delisted as per BFAD Circular 18(01) with the approval of the health secretary.

The delisting prompted pro-choice health groups to request the health secretary to remove the ban. These were the Reproductive Health Advocacy Network (RHAN) through WomenLEAD, and the Reproductive Rights Resource Group (RRRG). A media campaign was launched, and a signature campaign initiated protesting the delisting of Postinor. Secretary Dayrit rejected the groups’ petition on national television.

So far, three hearings sponsored by a committee formed by DOH specifically to look at the matter, have been held, the last one being last Friday, from 7 to 11 p.m., with representatives of anti-choice and pro-choice stating their positions. No decision on the delisting was made.

In effect, women have been deprived of emergency contraception when they need it.

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So, what is emergency contraception, and why is it the hot subject of debate?

EC, otherwise known as postcoital contraception, consists of the same hormones found in ordinary birth control pills. According to experts, when taken in a concentrated dose shortly after unprotected intercourse, these hormones can prevent pregnancy from taking place. As such, postcoital contraception is considered a "back-up" birth control option – for occasional use.

Hormonal postcoital contraception was started in the 1960s by a Dutch family planning physician, who provided high-dose estrogens to a 13-year-old victim of rape. The treatment became standard during the 1960s and early 1970s. In the 1970s, the high-dose estrogen therapy gave way to a combined estrogen-progestin method called the Yuzpe method. At around the same time, researchers developed a regimen consisting of A progestin (levonorgestrel) alone, and found that it could be as effective as the Yuzpe regime.

Both the Yuzpe and the levonorgestrel-only emergency contraceptive regimes consist of two doses of pills to be taken within 72 hours after unprotected intercourse. They have been found effective in preventing pregnancy.

The pro-life groups have raised a howl, calling Postinor, the levonorgestrel-only EC which was registered and delisted by the BFAD, as an abortifacient.

(More on this controversy on Tuesday.)

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ON ANOTHER FRONT. Ambassador Saleh Moh’d. Al-Ghamdi of Saudi Arabia wrote to say he would like "to join the hundreds of thousands of Muslim readers (of this column of November 7) in expressing their thanks to you in bringing back to light the glorious past of Islam and its service to humanity.

"The contribution of Islam to the world civilization, especially in the fields of science and mathematics, and in preserving the ideas of Greek philosophers during the dark age of the west, has saved the world from ‘total darkness.’

"Your article ‘Revisiting Islam’s influence’ will go a long way in the promotion of peace and understanding in today’s very divided world."

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Heaven sent: The Lifestyle Bazaar, opens today, the 16th, and continues through the 17th, 23rd, and 24th at the Manila Polo Club. This year’s bazaar which features over 100 booths and 30 all-new first-time bazaristas, completes its roster of perfect gifts with fresh potted flowering plants, from Mable Chua’s The Flower Box, such as vincas, dahlias, dwarf sunflowers, orchids and mums and bromeliads, to Palola of Lukban, Quezon.

Very exclusive to Heaven Sent: The Lifestyle Bazaar, are indigenous and exotic bamboo from Carolina’s Bamboo Garden. Different varieties of the elegant bamboo will be for sale, such as the golden painted bamboo, Buddha belly, royal, hedges, Oldham, and black bamboo. These make beautiful outdoor and indoor potted ornamentals. Look for this stall at the bazaar.

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My e-mail: [email protected]