FDA Approves Behind-the-Counter Plan B for Adults
Thursday August 24, 2006
Category: Gender and Sexuality
Earlier today, the FDA ruled that Plan B may be sold to adults without a prescription. Sales will be handled "behind the counter," much like cigarette sales, with purchasers carded to make sure they're over 18. The decision constitutes an uneasy political compromise between "pro-family" activists who oppose all distribution of emergency contraception, and scientists (including an overwhelming majority of the FDA's own professional staff) who have found the medication to be both safe and effective.
This is not an abortion issue, as Plan B has not been shown to be effective in any way as an abortificient. It works exactly the same way most other forms of birth control, including the rhythm method, work: Primarily by preventing fertilization of eggs, and secondarily by making the uterine environment inhospitable to egg implantation.
Although "pro-family" groups have expressed a sense of betrayal, the ruling does offer them two consolation prizes. First, because sale is restricted to adults, the FDA ruling will do nothing to decrease the teen pregnancy rate, ensuring that pregnancy will remain a "consequence" of teen sex. This is a major selling point for the abstinence education movement, just as cervical cancer once was.
Second, the behind-the-counter scheme allows pharmacists to "conscientiously object" to stocking the medication or providing it to adults, ensuring that distribution of the drug will continue to be spotty, particularly in conservative areas of the country. As reported yesterday, many pharmacists seem to enjoy the new power this gives them over women's lives:
The emergency contraception debate shatters conventional wisdom regarding reproductive rights; now it's pro-choicers who are working to prevent unnecessary abortions, and so-called pro-life groups that are standing in the way. I wonder if those religious conservatives who have legitimate deep-seated concerns about the unborn feel cheated or degraded by this revelation. I know I would.
See also:
Earlier today, the FDA ruled that Plan B may be sold to adults without a prescription. Sales will be handled "behind the counter," much like cigarette sales, with purchasers carded to make sure they're over 18. The decision constitutes an uneasy political compromise between "pro-family" activists who oppose all distribution of emergency contraception, and scientists (including an overwhelming majority of the FDA's own professional staff) who have found the medication to be both safe and effective.
This is not an abortion issue, as Plan B has not been shown to be effective in any way as an abortificient. It works exactly the same way most other forms of birth control, including the rhythm method, work: Primarily by preventing fertilization of eggs, and secondarily by making the uterine environment inhospitable to egg implantation.
Although "pro-family" groups have expressed a sense of betrayal, the ruling does offer them two consolation prizes. First, because sale is restricted to adults, the FDA ruling will do nothing to decrease the teen pregnancy rate, ensuring that pregnancy will remain a "consequence" of teen sex. This is a major selling point for the abstinence education movement, just as cervical cancer once was.
Second, the behind-the-counter scheme allows pharmacists to "conscientiously object" to stocking the medication or providing it to adults, ensuring that distribution of the drug will continue to be spotty, particularly in conservative areas of the country. As reported yesterday, many pharmacists seem to enjoy the new power this gives them over women's lives:
One pharmacist told the prescribing provider that EC "should be inconvenient" for women and their doctors, and that women who needed EC were "irresponsible and should suffer the consequences."More often than not, the consequence is abortion.
The emergency contraception debate shatters conventional wisdom regarding reproductive rights; now it's pro-choicers who are working to prevent unnecessary abortions, and so-called pro-life groups that are standing in the way. I wonder if those religious conservatives who have legitimate deep-seated concerns about the unborn feel cheated or degraded by this revelation. I know I would.
See also:
- Emergency Contraception May Soon Be Available Without Prescription
- FDA Decided to Delay Emergency Contraception in 2004 Before Reviewing Data
- ACLU: New York Pharmacists Altering Emergency Contraception Prescriptions
- Colorado Governor's Emergency Contraception Veto Shows Contradictions in Pro-Life Position
Comments
it seems like some pro-lifers are practically forcing people to get pregnant. i’m pro-life, and i do believe in making birth control more readily available in order to prevent abortion in the first place. i don’t thnk the morning after pill should be allowed for anyone under 18, so i’m happy with this decision.
I’m pro-life as well and it seems to me that if the consequences most often resul in abortion, shouldn’t anything and everything be done to prevent it?! I agree that it should not be allowed for anyone under 17 without a prescription. This ensures parental consent or another adults consent.