Dear Maj. Gen. Cucolo,
You recently did an about-face on the court-martialing of pregnant soldiers. I ask that you consider doing a similar about-face regarding the court-martialing of Plan B Emergency Contraception.
Regarding your recent communique that Plan B Emergency Contraception causes an abortion after unprotected engagement: Negat Bravo Zulu. REPEAT: Negat Bravo Zulu.
The fact is, MREs (your combat cuisine) are more likely to cause abortions than Plan B.
To help you better understand how Plan B works, I will plot the female soldier's pelvis as part of a military grid reference system with three separate but interconnected reproductive grid zone designations:
Designation Alpha: The Ovary Depot, where the egg is deployed as part of the monthly menstrual maneuver;
Designation Bravo: The Fallopian Labyrinth, or supply line by which the deployed egg transits from the Ovary Depot to the Uterine Delta; and
Designation Charlie: The Uterine Delta, where an egg that has been fertilized encamps for a longterm presence, or where an unfertilized egg merely passes through resulting in clean up operations.
The mode of operation that Plan B employs to achieve its contraceptive strategy is a focused, hormonally-mediated scoot and shoot tactic upon the ovary, with the goal being containment of the egg within the theater of the ovary.
If Plan B is unable to meet its objective and the egg is successfully deployed from the Ovary Depot, it then proceeds into the Fallopian Labyrinth, where it is vulnerable to amphibious assault by incoming sperm. Plan B is helpless to prevent this assault.
If an incoming sperm successfully engages the egg within the Fallopian Labyrinth, fertilization is likely to occur, and the fertilized egg-cargo then drops into the Uterine Delta. Whether it encamps there or not is a decision of nature and is neither hindered nor encouraged by Plan B.
In other words, Plan B's sole mission and plan of action is to keep the egg from leaving the ovarian depot, thus preventing engagement with incoming sperm so conception does not occur. Plan B is not capable of the more pelvic-wide scorched earth policy that you imply.
If what you are concerned about are abortions, the use of Plan B helps prevent thousands of them each year by keeping the egg confined to camp within the ovary, thus preventing collateral fertilization following unprotected engagement.
Yours truly,
Paul Joannides, Psy.D.
Civilian
(The beautiful illustration of the soldier is by Daerick Gross Sr. from my website at GoofyFootPress.com)
