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Her.meneutics is edited by associate editor Katelyn Beaty and online editor Sarah Pulliam Bailey.

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March 23, 2009

'Morning-After Pill' to Become Available to Minors


A federal judge ruled today that the Food and Drug Administration must allow company sell the "morning-after pill" to 17-year-olds without a prescription. U.S. District Judge Edward Korman also ordered the feds to consider expanding access to women of all ages.

Pills.JPG

Plan B, also known as "the morning after pill," reduces the chance of pregnancy if taken within three days after sex. It prevents ovulation or fertilization or implantation of a fertilized egg, which some people consider to be equivalent to an abortion.

Articles about the decision from the Associated Press, Washington Post, and U.S. News & World Report offer only positive quotes about the ruling. Conservative groups released statement criticizing the ruling for endangering parental rights.

"Given legitimate concerns about the safety of self-medicating with Plan B, it is incomprehensible that we would allow a minor to walk into any pharmacy and obtain this drug without medical oversight or parental involvement," Charmaine Yoest, President & CEO of Americans United for Life said in a statement.

Family Research Council's Chris Gacek said in a statement that the judge accepts an ideology that promotes sexual license for teens.

"There is a real danger that Plan B may be given to women, especially sexually abused women and minors, under coercion or without their consent," Gacek said. "The availability of Plan B over-the-counter also bypasses the routine medical care of sexually active girls and women, which is important to allow screening for other health conditions, including sexually transmitted diseases."

In 2006, the FDA approved over-the-counter sale of Plan B to adults, but girls 17 and younger were required to obtain a prescription.

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Posted by Sarah Pulliam Bailey on March 23, 2009 5:06 PM

Comments

What a wonderfl idea and ovement

Posted By: everett ; williams | April 3, 2009 5:11 PM

Another win for the men who want to lay the young girls and walk away free of any responsibility. Talk about perverts. So when do the 11 year olds, you know, the age the perverts want to "touch" get access to the pill. And what age girl is the judge laying. And what happened to the rights of parents who have these girls living under their roof. How can the government hold parents responsible for staying out late pass curfew and not give the parents the right to know their 17 yr olds are having sex and not be able to stop it legally. Since when is it the governments responsibility to okay sex for girls under 18. Like I said, what age girl is the judge looking to have sex with no interference from the girls parents. Nothing like freedom for the men and no freedom from the demands of men for the girl. Sounds like we're going back a few centuries when girls were given to men who wanted sex with young girls and parents couldn't say no to those in power.

Posted By: Anna | April 3, 2009 8:40 PM

"It prevents ovulation or fertilization or implantation of a fertilized egg, which some people consider to be equivalent to an abortion."

It *is* an abortion, not "equivalent to" or something someone can "consider to be" equivalent to. Simply because it is administered in, say hour 3 instead of week 3 (Mifepristone)does not change what it is accomplishing. Abortion is, quite simply, the removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus resulting in (or caused by) its death. This can happen naturally, in which case it is often called a miscarriage, or it can be accomplished meidcally (Plan B, Mifepristone, etc.) or surgically.

The only reason it can be said to prevent "pregnancy" is that the ACOG changed the definition of pregnancy in 1965, via a "medical bulletin" without discussion, debate or any change in consensus among the members of the college regarding what pregnancy is. Before the rule change, pregnancy was defined as beginning at the moment of conception, the bulletin changed this to implantation. Please note that this occurred just a few short months after the Supreme Court handed down the decision in Griswold v. Connecticut, legalizing contraception for married couples.

I wish you had spent more time with folks like Charmaine Yoest than it appears you have spent with the mainstream press.

Kamilla

Posted By: Kamilla | April 5, 2009 9:34 PM

The facts aren't straight on this article. The pill does NOT prevent implantation of a fertilized egg. It is simply a high-dose birth control pill that is ONLY effective BEFORE the egg is fertilized. Once the egg is fertilized (read: woman is pregnant) the pill is NO LONGER EFFECTIVE. Which means there is NO ABORTION of a fertilized egg. It is NOT an abortion pill.

Forcing someone to take a Plan B dose after sexually abusing them wouldn't have any adverse effect on the woman except preventing her from getting pregnant. The rapist's DNA could still be retrieved from a rape examination and he could still be held accountable for his actions. The woman would simply be prevented from having to go thru an unwanted pregnancy as well as a rape. In fact I'd imagine that at least 90% of sexually abused women would probably take the drug themselves after being raped.

Opposition of Plan B is nothing more than a conservative Christian agenda forcing their pro-life stance on the whole of the American public and attempting to get their religious beliefs made into laws.

Posted By: PropagandaSux | April 17, 2009 9:47 PM

PropagandaSux is incorrect. Plan B, as with other birth control pills, can prevent the implantation of an already fertilized egg by making the uterine environment inhospitable to the fertilized egg. But medically, a woman is technically not pregnant until the fertilized egg has implanted in the uterine lining and can then be nourished and grow. So you may agree that this is not an abortion pill because if you think that only an implanted, fertilized egg constitutes a pregnancy. If implanted, Plan B will not work to abort that egg. But just to get the facts straight, it can cause the expulsion of a fertilized egg before implanting, which violates the conscience of many Christians. I just wanted to make sure the right information was here so people can make informed decisions about the distribution and use of these pills.

Posted By: Amy | January 16, 2010 4:03 PM

I think this is a much better option than going through the trauma of an abortion.

Posted By: getting pregnant | September 20, 2010 4:39 PM

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