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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>New Scientist - </FONT><A
href="http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn9219-rhythm-method-criticised-as-a-killer-of-embryos-.html"><FONT
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Journal of Medical Ethics (free text)
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>html - </FONT><A
href="http://jme.bmjjournals.com/cgi/content/full/32/6/355"><FONT face=Arial
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>pdf - <A
href="http://jme.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/32/6/355.pdf">http://jme.bmjjournals.com/cgi/reprint/32/6/355.pdf</A> or
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The range of birth control choices may have become
narrower for couples that believe the sanctity of life begins when sperm meets
egg. The rhythm method, a philosopher claims, may compromise millions of
embryos.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>“Even a policy of practising condom usage and
having an abortion in case of failure would cause less embryonic deaths than the
rhythm method,” writes Luc Bovens, of the London School of Economics, in the
<I>Journal of Medical Ethics</I>.</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>With other methods of contraception banned by the
Catholic church, the rhythm method has been one of the few options available to
millions. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>In using the rhythm method, couples avoid pregnancy
by refraining from sex during a woman’s fertile period. Perfect adherents claim
it is over 90% effective – i.e. one couple in 10 will conceive in an average
year. But, typically speaking, effectiveness is estimated at closer to 75%.
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Now Bovens suggests that for those concerned about
embryo loss, the rhythm method may be a bad idea. He argues that, because
couples are having sex on the fringes of the fertile period, they are more
likely to conceive embryos that are incapable of surviving.</FONT></DIV>
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