FDA Approves Over-the-counter Plan B...Half a loaf is better than none

Geez, four days since my last post. Sorry about that.

Anyway, the FDA has finally done the right thing...sort of.

FDA EASES LIMITS ON PLAN B SALES

by Andrew Bridges

WASHINGTON - Women may buy the morning-after pill without a prescription — but only with proof they're 18 or older, federal health officials ruled Thursday, capping a contentious three-year effort to ease access to the emergency contraceptive.

Girls 17 and younger still will need a doctor's note to buy the pills, called Plan B, the Food and Drug Administration told manufacturer Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.

The compromise decision is a partial victory for women's advocacy and medical groups that say eliminating sales restrictions could cut in half the nation's 3 million annual unplanned pregnancies. Opponents have argued that wider access could increase promiscuity.

I'm not wild about the restrictions to underage access, and that's keeping in mind I've got a teenaged daughter myself. I'd hope if she were in the position of needing a morning-after pill that she'd feel comfortable coming to me with the problem, but I hate the notion that she'd have to scramble around for a doctor's okay anyway. I've got a hunch that whenever somebody considers using a Plan B contrapceptive, the first stage of the "plan" is not to panic.

That does not, however, prevent the Holy Terrors from shooting off their mouths about the whole thing. Again.

But opponent Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, said Plan B's wider availability could give women a false sense of security, since it isn't as effective as regular birth control. Wright also worries that adult men who have sex with minor girls could force the pills upon them.

"Statutory rape is a very serious problem. This decision is going to allow statutory rapists to rely on this drug to cover up their abuse," Wright said.

What is this woman smoking? To think that somehow sexual predators are dancing in the streets at the chance to add Plan B to their arsenal of weaponry is worse than ludicrous. It's the stuff of a bad porn novel.

(I was going to link to Lewis "Scooter" Libby's bad porn novel, "The Apprentice," but I don't want to encourage that sort of thing. Underage sex slaves? Bestiality? Ugh. Instead, I'm linking to Susie Bright's thoughts on the piece of crap).