Letter: Herald wrong to print abortion ad
by Kayla Hunt ¦ Badger Herald ¦ 13 March 2008 I make sure to get a copy of The Badger Herald on Wednesdays like every other devout Shout-Out fan on campus. I was shocked this Wednesday to open the paper and see an advertisement that took up at least one-quarter of a page and was sponsored by Pro-Life Wisconsin. I am adamantly pro-choice, but I am not writing just because I disagree with their beliefs. The ad briefly mentioned the upcoming spring break and making smart sex decisions and then warned of the dangers of emergency contraception for most of the advertisement. My main complaint with this ad is all of the false statements that were in it. First of all, the ad describes emergency contraception (a.k.a. the Plan B pill) as a powerful dose of steroids that tricks your body into thinking it is pregnant. It then goes on to warn that these steroids can cause chemical abortions and deadly blood clots. I am shocked that The Badger Herald would allow such an erroneous advertisement in its publication, let alone give the ad a huge space for the misinformation to be further promoted. I wanted to write in to clear up all of the propaganda. Since Plan B is the only legal form of emergency contraceptive in the U.S., all of my future statements refer only to that. To start, the Plan B pill is a dose of hormones, not steroids, usually progestin but sometimes also estrogen, equal to the amount of hormones that can be found in four to five regular birth control pills. Secondly, it does not trick your body into thinking it is pregnant. Depending on your menstrual cycle, the pill either prevents the ovary from releasing an egg or prevents the sperm from fertilizing an egg. I believe that both pro-choice and pro-life activists can agree that neither of these actions would be considered an abortion. I often see in the media that the Plan B pill is referred to as the abortion pill, which is completely wrong. Furthermore, all of the current information states that this pill is not effective if you are already pregnant and will not cause any birth defects, including abortion. Chemical abortions are performed by a doctor using the RU-486 pill and occur only in the first two months of pregnancy. This ad could have taken a completely different approach to promoting safe sex instead of the outrageous half-truths that it chose to use. One example was on the exact opposite page and sponsored by University Health Services. It simply said to use sunscreen and condoms and to not act like an idiot; there was no hidden agenda in the ad from UHS, while the ad from Pro-Life Wisconsin had more than its fair share. I highly suggest The Badger Herald review all their ads before they are published to make sure they do not spread such inaccuracies in the future. | 
