Plan B available "over the counter"

[Lisa Denton]

Plan B, one of the so called "morning after" pills, is now available over the counter, rather than needing a prescription. I say one of, because some doctor was saying there are other drugs called that also, but I dunno.

Anyways, I assume it is the same type drug that a pharmacist refused to fill a prescription for, because of her personal beliefs, which was widely debated and the story got changed around on, I heard it several different ways.

I thought a pharmacist should fill a legally prescibed drug or be fired, whether it was a laxative or heart medication, but that has nothing to do with my job, its a personal belief.

There has been some debate over this already and I only heard of it today, no one has mentioned that case which was widely debated at the time yet, I wonder if it has something to do with that.

Anywho, anybody who wants to throw thier two cents in can do it here.

Do you think its a good idea or a bad idea?

 

[Seattle Zack]

If it were up to me, I'd like to see dispensers stocked with these things on every street corner and in every high school. Now there's my tax dollars at work. 300,000 unwanted kids are born each year to 14-18 year olds. I'd rather have my tax dollars up front, as opposed to the outrageous costs of foster care, juvenile detention, prison.

 

[Darkniciad]

I'm up in the air on the 18+ restriction on sales of it ( You have to be 18 to purchase it without a note from a doctor, even though it is non-prescription )

On the one hand, juveniles shouldn't be able to purchase drugs of any kind as far as I'm concerned.

On the other, they are the ones most likely to make a stupid mistake and need it.

The *real* reason for the 18+ restriction is a load of shit, based entirely upon ridiculous emphereal notions.

My views on abortion are pretty much in line with conservatives

( more what they say than what they actually think. Too much to go into, so put away the torches and pitchforks, m'kay? )

after a certain point in pregnancy ( fairly early ), but when we're talking about a cluster of cells; sorry, that's not a person. It isn't even an animal as far as I'm concerned, it's unthinking, unfeeling tissue.

( I also believe the stem cell debate is a load of religious crapflap. Not a person, and if it will be tossed in the garbage anyhow, does not have the potential to be such either )

This pill, in fact, could help eliminate one of the dangers of abortion - the psychological ramifications. If a condom breaks, you don't wait around biting your nails, peeing on sticks, praying to your non-specific creator figure that you weren't fertile that night. Then if you get a positive result, you're going through the decision of whether to terminate the pregnancy. Even if it is a given you're going to, it could still come back to haunt you later.

With this pill, you are just taking preventive measures. You never have that "I'm pregnant" moment to possibly feel bad about later on in life. You don't have the anxiety of waiting to see before you make the decision.

The whole debate has too many complications. Many of the young people who need this pill *also* need to have the fact that they are psychologically unprepared for sexual activity pounded into their head. Some might have the necessary maturity to handle it, but most don't. Adding another easy-out may not be a good idea for many.

I'll quit rambling now. Overall, I see more positive benefits than negative ramifications to this pill ( so long as it is as safe and effective as claimed )

 

[S-Des]

The whole debate has too many complications. Many of the young people who need this pill *also* need to have the fact that they are psychologically unprepared for sexual activity pounded into their head. Some might have the necessary maturity to handle it, but most don't. Adding another easy-out may not be a good idea for many.

I'll quit rambling now. Overall, I see more positive benefits than negative ramifications to this pill ( so long as it is as safe and effective as claimed )

Wow, what he said. I wasn't going to post here, but I had to say I think you handled that well. At least I'm out here on the island with you (so we can both watch out for the pitchforks ).

 

[sweetnpetite]

I think it should be available but more closely controled than this. I can see a lot of possible bad things coming of this- people taking it past the time they should, people taking it more often than they should, people taking it for the wrong reasons ("my brothers friends cousins girlfriend said that if you take it when you're not pregnant it can actually help you lose weight") based on some rumour or urban legend. I'm even worried that some guy or guys might try to give it to his girlfriend without her knowing it. Or that if any complications arise from improper usage the pros won't be around to help.

 

[Weird Harold]

I'm up in the air on the 18+ restriction on sales of it

I voted yes, although I, too, have some reservations about the Over-Eighteen requirement -- but not all that many. If a minor needs the morning after pill, there are many possibilities for having an adult buy it for them, which would at least get an adult's (supposedly) more mature decision processes involved.

I don't think the morning after pill being available OTC is really going to have much effect on teen pregnancies becaue the teen who need it most are unlikely to know enough to use it in a timely manner -- that's the ones whose sex education is so stunted that they don't even know that intercourse causes pregnancy. Sadly, there are far too many young teens that fit that description.

 

[shereads]

Deleted Quintuplet Post

 

[shereads]

It's about time. The FDA made a political decision 3 years ago that had nothing to do with the drug's safety or effectiveness. The approval, compromised as it is, wouldn't have happened at all under this administration if H. Clinton and a few others hadn't threatened to block an appointment to the FDA.

Condoms break. It's not just the young and irresponsible who can find themselves at the receiving end of an unplanned sperm-delivery.

Next: give adults the right to buy birth control pills without a doctor's prescription. Yes, I know a PAP smear is important for women on the pill. No, I don't always want to make time for one. I should have a right to neglect my health by postponing those annual checkups, just as I have the right to risk my life by flying, scuba diving or eating fried foods. Yet the FDA continues to grant my gyn the right to blackmail me into scheduling an appointment by refusing to renew a prescription for birth control pills. Thanks for caring, FDA and AMA; now leave me alone.

Unless there's proof that I can harm myself with birth control pills more easily than with an overdose of Tylenol or Motrin, slap a warning label on the box and offer them OTC.

 

[shereads]

If it were up to me, I'd like to see dispensers stocked with these things on every street corner and in every high school. Now there's my tax dollars at work. 300,000 unwanted kids are born each year to 14-18 year olds. I'd rather have my tax dollars up front, as opposed to the outrageous costs of foster care, juvenile detention, prison.

Amen.

If a kid can't use a pill responsibly, it stands to reason that she can't give birth responsibly. Assuming that there are health risks associated with incorrect use of Plan B or birth control pills, it's still a lesser risk than being 13 and pregnant.

 

[arienette]

Amen.

If a kid can't use a pill responsibly, it stands to reason that she can't give birth responsibly. Assuming that there are health risks associated with incorrect use of Plan B or birth control pills, it's still a lesser risk than being 13 and pregnant.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

I have always felt this way about emergency contraception. As someone who has actually used the Plan B pill on one occassion, I know that not only 13-18 year olds find themselves in this situation, not only "immature kids who shouldn't be having sex anyway." I look around myself, at the people I grew up with and went to high school with and there's a severe baby boom going on right now. People who are 18-21 are having children, mostly unplanned and also those in the lower to middle class income bracket who I know will not be able to support these children the way they need to be and I find myself hoping that they somehow find a way to raise these children right. More people need access to these pills without the Nazi-religious breathing down their backs. On several occassions, just where I live alone, I have walked by or had an appointment to keep at Planned Parenthood and have seen people, myself included, being ridiculed for "dealing with the Devil" just by keeping myself healthy when going in for a PAP or even free HIV/STD testing, looking out for what is truly in my best interest by taking 2 Plan B pills, or just accompanying my little sister (who's 14, was scared and had confessed to me she lost her virginity and didn't want there to be a risk for anything "bad" to happen) so we got her on the pill. Planned Parenthood is really an amazing organization, but that's a debate for another time. If you are in need of this type of medication and are going to be repeatedly harassed for walking into the single place that sells/carries that type of medication, then you should make it more accessible and I am glad that they're doing that.

Also, and I hear people grouping others into the age bracket of 13-18 and saying that they are "immature teenagers (or children, really) who shouldn't be having sex unless they are ready to raise a child anyway, because there is always that risk"; what people do not understand is that there is no way you are going to stop people 13-18 from having sex. It's hormones, children are growing up and maturing at severely faster paces than you or even I have and I'm just out of that age bracket. It's a phenomenon, it's fucked up, but it is happening and the best we can do is educate these individuals in family planning and hope they listen. There's nothing else you can possibly do but make pills, such as Plan B more accessible.

Oh, and I'm also all for abortions without parental consent too; so let the daggers fly.

 

[Guest]

It's about time.

And I have to chuckle about the politicians putting 13-18 year-olds in the same category, however. Comparing a 7th grader with a high school senior? Please!

 

[arienette]

It's about time.

And I have to chuckle about the politicians putting 13-18 year-olds in the same category, however. Comparing a 7th grader with a high school senior? Please!

Haha...I always chuckle about that. It is quite an age gap where people are maturing rapidly.

 

[Lisa Denton]

It's about time.

And I have to chuckle about the politicians putting 13-18 year-olds in the same category, however. Comparing a 7th grader with a high school senior? Please!

Yes sweety, about the only thing they have in common is they can buy heroin, cocain, crack, LSD, and many other mind-altering, decision-affecting drugs anywhere, anytime.

There is a chance that after puchasing and using huge amounts of these drugs, just kids being kids, that then they could fuck up (?) literally and make a bad decision and do something terrible --- SEX.

The politicians figure it should be the parents decision to say "no, you did wrong and had sex, so we are going to teach you a lesson and make you have a baby."

I think the only downside to this is that many women with daughters will not buy some and keep it with thier cash in thier purse ..... so the kid could see it whilst stealing a few bills for crack.

But then, I am the optimistic idealist and shouldn't be bringing up the downside, nevermind.

 

[shereads]

Yes sweety, about the only thing they have in common is they can buy heroin, cocain, crack, LSD, and many other mind-altering, decision-affecting drugs anywhere, anytime.

There is a chance that after puchasing and using huge amounts of these drugs, just kids being kids, that then they could fuck up (?) literally and make a bad decision and do something terrible --- SEX.

The politicians figure it should be the parents decision to say "no, you did wrong and had sex, so we are going to teach you a lesson and make you have a baby."

I think the only downside to this is that many women with daughters will not buy some and keep it with thier cash in thier purse ..... so the kid could see it whilst stealing a few bills for crack.

But then, I am the optimistic idealist and shouldn't be bringing up the downside, nevermind.

It's amazing how many 'downsides' have been raised about this drug during the FDA battle - and how creative they are.

This morning I heard someone on a local news program worrying that sexual predators will provide this drug to their underage victims.

I'm not sure what the concern was, precisely: that victims of sexual predators might be deprived of the opportunity to bear their rapists' children; or that sexual predators will emerge from a population of responsible adult males who've been holding back until now.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

I say it should be up to each and every woman whether or not she wants to have a baby or not. And while I wouldn't necessary call a 14-year-old girl a "woman", it's her body's readyness to get pregnant that makes her one, and not my opinion on her.

What's the point in having a pill that can prevent unwanted abortions if it's not available to those who are the least suitable to have unwanted children - the young teenagers?

Free contraceptives of any kind available everywhere to affordable prices!!!

 

[arienette]

I think this link would be of interest to a lot of you here...

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5705260

 

[Svenskaflicka]

Opponents of abortion rights say that the pills sometimes work to prevent the implantation of a fertilized egg into the uterus. They consider this action to be the same as an abortion. This raises the issue of when a pregnancy actually starts.

You mustn't stop the slightest possibility of pregnancy! Aaaaaaaaah!!!!

Now, let's all sing it together:

"Every sperm is sacred,
every sperm is great!
When a sperm is wasted
God gets quite irate..."

 

[Liar]

You mustn't stop the slightest possibility of pregnancy! Aaaaaaaaah!!!!

So, basically, if a man and a woman are in the same room together, we mustn't discourage them from fucking either?

I'm confused by the contraception and Plan B opponents on this one.

On one hand, one part of the act of making kidlets (sex) should be avoided and aborted at all costs.
But the second part (fertilization) mustn't be stopped, which is what contraceptives do.
And the third part (pregnancy) mustn't be aborted.

Seems inconsistent to me.

 

[Svenskaflicka]

So, basically, if a man and a woman are in the same room together, we mustn't discourage them from fucking either?

I'm confused by the contraception and Plan B opponents on this one.

On one hand, one part of the act of making kidlets (sex) should be avoided and aborted at all costs.
But the second part (fertilization) mustn't be stopped, which is what contraceptives do.
And the third part (pregnancy) mustn't be aborted.

Seems inconsistent to me.

Sex should only be used to make babies. And even then you mustn't enjoy it, or you should be ashamed of yourself.
Easy!

 

[deathlynx]

Sex should only be used to make babies. And even then you mustn't enjoy it, or you should be ashamed of yourself.
Easy!

Ah, but the Vatican grudgingly admited that you can enjoy it as long as you're married to the person and it's for the purpose of procreation!

What I recently discovered is that it wasn't until the 50s or 60s that the injunction against birth control appeared...*shrug*...

Anyway, I tend to stay out of the abortion debate...Why? Because it's not my body and hense will never directly effect me...As a male who believes in not pushing beliefs on other people I have avoided thinking about the issue...It would be nothing more than me trying to tell someone else what to believe which is contrary to who I am...

 

[Lisa Denton]

Ah, but the Vatican grudgingly admited that you can enjoy it as long as you're married to the person and it's for the purpose of procreation!

What I recently discovered is that it wasn't until the 50s or 60s that the injunction against birth control appeared...*shrug*...

Anyway, I tend to stay out of the abortion debate...Why? Because it's not my body and hense will never directly effect me...As a male who believes in not pushing beliefs on other people I have avoided thinking about the issue...It would be nothing more than me trying to tell someone else what to believe which is contrary to who I am...

Its refreshing to hear that from a man.

I sometimes wonder if the male militant anti-abortionists would feel the same if it was themselves looking at the same nine months, and following eighteen years, and they try to hit you if you ask how many unwanted children they have adopted.

 

[deathlynx]

Its refreshing to hear that from a man.

It's kinda the foundation of my particular beliefs...Every faith is true to the one who believes it...A pagan outlook to be sure

I sometimes wonder if the male militant anti-abortionists would feel the same if it was themselves looking at the same nine months, and following eighteen years, and they try to hit you if you ask how many unwanted children they have adopted.

Good question...the answer? They refuse to comment since it's their responsibility to determine what's right for everyone!

 

[yevkassem72]

In Islam, of course, procreation is encouraged and marriage as well. Abortion, not so much. The whole child murder thing is going a bit far for the sake of freedom, don't you think? Not that I'm exactly in line with the bulk of the Koran, but they have a point in regard to killing babies. Of course, I can understand the argument that a zyogte isn't a soul, but still, it could be one very soon. Why stop the natural process? Who knows, it could be a great man or woman some day. And what about sex-selection abortions and such.

Now, I don't care for marriage quite so much. I have no qualms about "bastardy". That being so, I have even less reason to oppose birth and support abortion. Not shocking perhaps that many prudes support abortion. Couldn't follow their own damned rules, so they have to resort to murder to cover it up. Pah!

 

[yevkassem72]

In Islam, of course, procreation is encouraged and marriage as well. Abortion, not so much. The whole child murder thing is going a bit far for the sake of freedom, don't you think? Not that I'm exactly in line with the bulk of the Koran, but they have a point in regard to killing babies. Of course, I can understand the argument that a zyogte isn't a soul, but still, it could be one very soon. Why stop the natural process? Who knows, it could be a great man or woman some day. And what about sex-selection abortions and such.

Now, I don't care for marriage quite so much. I have no qualms about "bastardy". That being so, I have even less reason to oppose birth and support abortion. Not shocking perhaps that many prudes support abortion. Couldn't follow their own damned rules, so they have to resort to murder to cover it up. Pah!

 

[Liar]

Of course, I can understand the argument that a zyogte isn't a soul, but still, it could be one very soon. Why stop the natural process? Who knows, it could be a great man or woman some day.

For the sake of the argument:
Why then draw the line at a zygote? The zygote is just one of many steps in the process to what might be a great man or woman some day. It might or it might not. Not all zygotes develop into fetuses, but circle the drain instead naturally. So it's just a possibility, not an inevitability.
An earlier step and possibility would be the moment or conception.
An earlier one would be the moment of ejaculation.
And before that, we have the moment of penetration.
Or what about the moment of sexual attraction?
They're all just steps in the natural process. Why are some ok to stop and others not?