A French drug manufacturing company is reported to have filed for permission to retail its pill that works long after "the morning after" for women in the U.S. The drug, retailed under the name ella, would be sold as a contraceptive.

Ella can be used to prevent pregnancy for up to 5 days or 120 hours after a woman has unprotected sex compared to the currently available pill in U.S. that is effective for the first 72 hours.

Approved in Europe last year, ella is used as an emergency contraceptive in 22 countries worldwide.

The new drug, also known as Plan B, is revealed to be a chemical similar to the abortion pill RU-486, fuelling the speculations that it could also induce abortion by making the womb inhospitable for an embryo.

However, the Plan B pill manufactures claim that it boosts the production of the hormone progesterone in the body, decreasing or completely hampering the ovaries’ ability to produce eggs.

Ella seems to be honored by many U.S. advocates for family planning and reproductive rights as a much-required additional form of contraception under emergency.

However, opponents of the drug criticize that the French company and the FDA would be misguiding the women by categorizing ella under the emergency contraceptive segment.