I hope Ms. Hill shares Zogby's response, if she gets one.

Don't let them off with "we were confused"!

Anyone who has had a coarse in Market Research knows that every word in a poll is studied and debated by the polling team to avoid bias. When a polling question is biased you can be sure that is what they wanted!

I hope I'm not the first one to tell you this, but anti-choice extremists - including Pharmacists for Life - consider the morning-after pill an abortion pill because it can prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus. Because they consider a fertilized egg a "life" even before it implants, they believe this qualifies as abortion. I'd venture a guess that the Zogby language was no mistake.

If the other side is going to define abortion down to forms of birth control, I suggest that women must begin to own those abortions. I've taken the morning-after pill, and from now on I'm going to claim that as an abortion. Every woman who has ever used any medication or procedure that the zealots would prohibit needs to speak up every chance she gets and say "I've had an abortion, and I want other women to have the same choice I had." In this most private decision, privileged women can no longer afford the privilege of privacy.

I was at a liberal event and talking to a liberal *male biology professor* NOT KIDDING and a woman who worked in a pharmacy mentioned "Plan B" and the 72 hours during a conversation about working in a pharmacy. Well, the male biology prof nods knowingly, "RU-486!" I attempted to enlighten him, but I doubt he understood. "Morning After Pill" probably doesn't work to enlighten people either. I think a large number of people still think "Plan B," "Emergency contraception," and "Morning-after pill" = RU-486.

This information just isn't making its way to the mainstream, even among liberal males and liberal women such as the pharmacy clerk (the pharmacist knew what Plan B was, but the female clerk didn't.)

Though I don't always agree with Rebecca's opinion, she usually gets her facts right. So the statement below is said in an amicable way.

The Religious Right and the Catholic Church believe that life begins at CONCEPTION-- so once that fertilized egg is floating around in there, ANYTHING that keeps it from surviving, like the Morning After Pill, or even the good-old-fashioned Birth Control pill, which prevents ovulation, and as a back-up, prevents implantation, are off-limits.

It's the Trojan Horse of the abortion debate. What these folks are really against is BIRTH CONTROL. The women of America have not figured this out. One law about life beginning at conception wipes out the Pill.

Something to ponder, fear, and motivate one to organize. This isn't just about abortion. It's far worse than that.

He's a sloppy pollster, and has some major crash-and-burn errors and mistakes. He was one of the ones adamantly certain that Kerry was going to win, and made no bones about it.

DON'T keep your day job, Zogby..

Rebecca Traister reported today in the Broadsheet that "Emergency contraception...prevents ovulation, fertilization of an egg and (though this has not been scientifically proved) the implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterine wall."

However, I read just last week in the Broadsheet an article ("Repeat After Me: Plan B is not Abortion") describing research in Sweden and Chile that had shown that emergnecy contraception does NOT prevent implantation and probably does not prevent fertilization.

Did Ms. Traister miss that article? Or did I miss other research released that has countered the Swedish and Chilean research?

Here's the thing:

Contraception refers to any method that prevents pregnancy.

Abortion, or pregnancy termination, refers to a method that aborts, or terminates, a pregnancy after the fetus has begun to develop.

Plan B has a 120 hour (not 72 hour, as was previously the case) block of time in which it can be used. After that block of time, it can be assumed that fertilization and implantation have taken place, and Plan B will have no effect.

People say that Plan B is not a method of abortion because Plan B will not harm or in any way adversely affect a fetus that has begun to develop.

Now, if you want to argue semantics and say that life begins at conception (i.e. at the moment when the sperm cell meets the egg cell), and that anything that prevents fetal development from that point on can be considered termination, then, yes, there are probably instances in which Plan B causes an "abortion" by preventing implantation (though Plan B has not actually been scientifically proven to be capable of doing this -- Planned Parenthood specifically notes that it is only proven to prevent ovulation and fertilization). However, that is an extremely facetious and misleading argument, as, more often than not, Plan B works by preventing conception, not by "aborting" an unimplanted fertilized egg.

Plan B is contraception, not abortion. Plan B will not cause an abortion, and should never be referred to as an abortion pill.

...but perhaps there were multiple different versions of this poll with various different wordings, and that itself is part of what is being researched?

if we agree that "there are probably instances in which Plan B causes an 'abortion' by preventing implantation" then we cannot categorically state that Plan B "will not cause an abortion." . . . even if it prevents conception, and does not cause an abortion, only "more often than not."

you may have a different definition of abortion than those who oppose Plan B (as, for the record, do I). but if there truly are, as you admit, instances when Plan B causes an abortion, we can't afford to turn around one paragraph later and claim that Plan B does not cause abortion. this debate deserves better debators than that.

I am a conservative Republican, a husband & father.

I am sick over the current debate on the Morning After Pill.

If one "does the math" the pill has about a 80% chance of working by stopping ovulation and 20% chance of working by preventing implantation.

Even if it works by preventing implantation research shows that 60 - 80% of all embryos do not implant anyway.

Thus it takes that 20% chance to 4 - 8%.

Emergency Contraception needs to be legal and available.

Pharmacists do not get a conscience clause. If they don't want to dispense it their conscience should have them get a new job!

To allow this type of lunacy is to undermine everything that women have worked for and earned.

Lets face the facts, this whole thing is Catholic ploy, the church can't get its own flock to follow so now they are turning this issue into more "abortion politic's".

For the record I am for reasonable restrictions on abortion but this just goes against common sense!

It also shows what the Catholics and religious right really want, women in their place: married, at home, barefoot, pregnant and in the Kitchen.