Editorial Column

Kara Peterson
Charles D. Owen HS (Black Mountain, N.C.)

Access to Plan B should be even greater

In August of 2006, the FDA approved over-the-counter access to a contraceptive drug called Plan B. for women 18 and older. This allows for emergency contraceptives, or the “morning-after pill,” to be sold to women who are 18 and older over the counter, rather than having to acquire a doctor’s prescription. Anyone under 18, who lacks a prescription, is merely out of luck. In California, anyone over 16 can get EBC pills without parental consent; other states should follow suit.

Controversy nearly drowns the topic of Plan B at every turn, but the FDA and other pro-emergency birth control organizations are not to be deterred from helping prevent 1.7 million unintended pregnancies and 800.000 abortions in the United States every year.

According to the official morning-after pill Web site, emergency contraceptives work in one of three different ways. First, ovulations might be inhibited and the egg will not be released; second, the normal menstrual cycle might be delayed; or third, the lining of the uterus could be changed, so the egg has no where to attach.

Many anti-EBC organizations claim that the pills cause a woman to have an abortion, while other organizations defend the pills as non-abortive. It takes 5-7 days after unprotected sex for a woman to become pregnant. The pill is taken within three days of having sex. By definition, any type of medicine that works before a pregnancy is established is not abortive; therefore, EBC does not cause a woman to have an abortion.

Other organizations also say that EBC pills are the same thing as the French RU-486 abortion pill. That is untrue, as the abortion pill is a drug called mifepristone. Mifepristone is designed to have a woman’s body abort the child sometime during the first-trimester of pregnancy. EBC pills are either composed of progestin or a combination of progestrin and estrogen. Those drugs merely prevent a woman from becoming pregnant.

Buncombe County ranked 280 out of counties nationwide for teen pregnancy. With a 12.4 percent teenage birth rate, it is also the seventh highest county in North Carolina, behind only Forsyth, New Hanover, Durham, Guilford, Mecklenburg, and Wake Counties. Perhaps Bucombe County needs a law similar to the one in California.

The usage of EBC has no serious side effects, save the occasional case of nausea and tenderness. However, the FDA has placed serious regulations upon the OTC Plan B. Only certain pharmacies are allowed to sell EBC pills, so monitoring their distribution will be much easier. The American All Life (ALL) Web site claims that the FDA merely passed the bill under political pressure and that the FDA did no testing on the drug. In fact, the FDA made their official decisions within the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research, where the initial research took place.

ALL also claims that women will begin to use EBC as a method of regular birth control if it is made available over the counter, possibly causing them to become infertile. Once again, the organization has mistaken its facts. A single dose of EBC can range between $30 and $300, while other forms of birth control cost much less. It would be too expensive for a woman to continuously pay for EBC. The Emergency Birth Control Organization has specifically stated that after using EBC once, a woman is much more likely to start using a regular birth control. Pill. The worst side effect of using EBC long-term, is an irregular menstrual cycle; forget the infertility propaganda. Women can safely have children even after taking the EBC pill.

ALL also has a grand ole’ time stating how EBC doesn’t protect a woman from diseases such as AIDS and other STDs. However, EBC wasn’t designed to protect a woman from AIDS, only from getting pregnant; nothing more, nothing less.

Does that mean it’s the medical world’s responsibility to cover up a man and woman’s mistakes? No, absolutely not. Women should take responsibility for their mistakes and Plan B allows them to do so.