DLC, using emotive language as you do, "murdering babies" is
exactly that, but not very factual. A zygote is not a baby,
its not a person either. When your brain stops, you are
no longer a person, if you havent got a functioning brain,
you are not a person either. Millions upon millions of
human eggs and sperm are flushed down toilets every night.
To pretend they are sacred, when two of those happen
to meet up, is IMHO ridiculous. Just because something
has become an organism, does not make it sacred.

That is a catholic defintion, no more. We need freedom
of religion, but we also need freedom from religion if we
so choose!

Big Fish- I don't have any 'official' data on this, only personal experiance, discussions with friends etc. Most pregnancies in my acquaintance, and most 'scares', come while using the pill and/or condoms.

Unfortunately, taking antibiotics for an ear infection or similar will disrupt the way the pill works (or vomiting, or getting diarroea), for up to a month- if your doctor does not specifically mention it, most people I know simply forget about this effect... after taking the pill for months on end, it is such a routine, like brushing your teeth, that you forget that it might not be entirely effective.

And condoms sometimes break, or slip off on withdrawl...

Like I said, no official stats, but my experiance is that most people ARE being careful when they accidently get preganant.

Big Fish and Laurie,

According to the Democrats website, 'more than half' of women presenting for abortion were using contraception at the time they became pregnant.

http://www.democrats.org.au/docs/2005/abortionmyths.pdf
This correlates with the impression I have gained sifting through various abortion data; around half of women seeking abortion were using contraception at the time.

If even 30-40% of women were not using contraception at the time of conception, it suggests to me a great hope for empowering more women to avoid unplanned pregnancies.

In my opinion, the discussion would be far more productive by focusing on how to reduce the rate of unplanned pregnancies and support women facing an unplanned pregnancy, rather than enter the fray on whether or not, or why, abortions should or shouldn't be legal. Otherwise it ends up being a ping-pong exercise in rhetoric and emotion where both sides are abused, offended and demonised, and winning the debate becomes the most important thing, rather than helping women who are facing a crisis point in their lives.

Yes, discussions on the humanity of the foetus are utterly important; yes, speaking out for human beings without a voice is vital. However, whether we believe in the sanctity of human life from conception - or not - will not *in itself* prevent women from finding themselves facing a personal crisis and an unplanned pregnancy.

What we believe to be morally 'right' or 'wrong' are highly important and highly personal beliefs that are of immense value to us personally, but fail to translate in a public discussion over how we can best proceed in reducing the rate at which women are faced with unplanned pregnancies, or how we can support those who are.

It would seem to be that RU486, if made available across the counter, would basically abolish the need for all other forms of contraception. After all, why use reventative measures, such as the oral contraceptive pill, IUDs, implants and the like, all of which have side effects, when simply taking a medication at the first sign of pregnancy would solve any other difficulties.

That would leave the barrier methods as being necessary only for disease prevention.

It would also mean that termnation clinics would be put out of business.

In regard to lower pregnancy rates in some European countries, maybe this will help:
http://www.clothesfree.com/pregnancy.html

If Senator Allison's latest scramble for votes does not work, she would always be welcomed in the Drug Rep world. A drug that is 99% safe ... they all start their life this way. Do we recall Vioxx having a very short life span.
Mifepristone, may have many promising 'other' uses, but thats akin to importing whipper-snippers to 'power my pushbike'. We're talking about importing 'medical abortion'. Bound to be taken up by a medical community that can become further removed from the hands-on process, after all we acknowledge it's not pleasant business.
I quote from the Medical Observer (23/9/05) Dr Edith Weisberg "In a study we undertook some years ago of more than 2000 women seeking abortion in NSW, 49% stated they were using a method of contraception at the time they conceived."
A point of contention, no contraceptive-based sex education program has ever reduced the teen pregnancy rate. Similarly, at my last search, no case studies of antibiotic-induced pregnancy has ever been reported. Although theoretically the 'threat' exists.
Mifepristone is moving in to cover up the dismal statistics associated with modern contraception.