(CNBC) The Food and Drug Administration is changing the informational packaging of the emergency contraceptive pill, Plan B One-Step, to clarify that it is not an abortion pill, the federal agency announced Friday.
Plan B is an over-the-counter drug that can be taken as a backup method of birth control to reduce the chance of pregnancy after unprotected sex. If taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex or contraceptive failure, Plan B works by stopping or delaying the release of an egg from the ovary, not by causing an abortion, the agency said.
“Plan B One-Step will not work if a person is already pregnant, meaning it will not affect an existing pregnancy,” the FDA said in a release. “Evidence does not support that the drug affects implantation or maintenance of a pregnancy after implantation, therefore it does not terminate a pregnancy.”
Until now, packaging for Plan B and generic versions of the drug have erroneously claimed that taking the pill might be able to prevent a fertilized egg from implanting. Medical professionals say this claim is not backed by scientific evidence but was included on the label in order to get Plan B’s over-the-counter status approved.
As such, the FDA revised the informational leaflets in Plan B’s packaging to reflect that it does not work after fertilization, the agency said… to continue reading, click here.
This article was written by Kelly Capoot and published at CNBC)
