The Morning-After Pill

Every reasonably safe and sure method of contraception so far devised has required that either partner take preventive measures before intercourse. Last week two Yale University researchers reported the discovery of a "morning-after" pill that can prevent pregnancy when taken as long as six days afterward.

Gynecologist John McLean Morris and Endocrinologist Gertrude van Wagenen told the American Fertility Society that one compound has been effective in rabbits and monkeys. It causes no harmful side effects and no malformations in the newborn even when taken during pregnancy. This compound, ORF-3858 of New Jersey's Ortho Research Foundation, has not yet been approved for human trials.

Casting around for an available medicine with a similar action, the Yale researchers hit upon diethylstilbestrol, a synthetic female hormone commonly prescribed to correct uterine disorders. With a small number of volunteers, including victims of rape, they found that this drug prevented the development of pregnancy in humans.

A morning-after pill is not literally a contraceptive, since it does not work by preventing ovulation, or the union of sperm and ovum. Instead, it prevents implantation of the fertilized ovum (zygote) in the wall of the uterus, which normally occurs about six to seven days after conception.

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