If you haven’t heard, the FDA approved over-the-counter provision of Plan B (aka Emergency Contraception or “EC”) in US pharmacies for women aged 18 and older. Finally, we caught up (somewhat) to the developing world in the family planning arena!
Here’s what to do, ladies: go out TODAY, and get yourself a few packs to keep around the house as a back up to your regular birth control method. And then make sure all of the under-18 girls you know are aware that you have some and that you will show them how to use it should they need it!
Meanwhile, we need to keep working to change US policy so that Plan B is quickly and easily available to all women, regardless of their age. The struggle to get this approved is NOT an issue of drug safety. This issue is about old, white, conservative men (and a few psychotic freak robot women who are possessed by them) and their unwillingness to let women have control over their own reproductive lives and bodies.
A few very important facts to know about Plan B*:
- Research from the Guttmacher Institute suggests that in 2000, use of emergency contraceptives prevented more than 100,000 unintended pregnancies, 51,000 of which would have ended in abortion.
- Plan B is most effective the sooner it is taken following contraceptive failure, unprotected sex or sexual assault. Up to 120 hours after unprotected sex is the best time to take it – the sooner the better.
- Emergency contraceptives do not affect an established pregnancy.
- There were about 270,000 pregnancies among US women and girls younger than 18 in 2002, the vast majority of them unintended. Delays caused by the need to obtain and fill prescriptions (particularly over weekends and holidays) can reduce Plan B‘s effectiveness and may prevent many women younger than 18 from accessing it in time to avoid a pregnancy.
- Studies show that Plan B is safe for young teens and that easier access to Plan B does not lead to greater risk taking.
* Thanks to the Guttmacher Institute.
