Yesterday was the deadline for the Plan B morning after pill: What's a Pharmacist to Do?
Posted May 7, 2013 11:25 am
By
Mary Anne Meyers
Public News Service
TALLAHASSEE, FL - Yesterday was the day all age restrictions on the "Plan B" emergency contraceptives were supposed to be lifted. A federal judge ordered that the pills should be available to all women of all ages over the counter, just like aspirin. But now Florida pharmacists are unsure what they should do.
Paula Gianino with Planned Parenthood is disappointed.
Links:
•
Guttmacher Institute
•
Plan to make the morning-after pill a moot point (LA
Times)
•
Plan "B" pill dispute explained (US Sup Ct Blog)
•
FDA Approves Sale of Plan B Morning After Pill to
Teenagers
• Planned Parenthood
Late last week, the Obama administration filed an appeal of the court order and asked for a stay of the May 6 deadline. The day before that, the FDA lowered the age at which Plan B would be available without prescription from 17 to 15. Some saw the FDA action as a compromise.
"What's disappointing is that this safe and effective drug continues to be used as a political football," she charged.
Some anti-abortion groups support the appeal because
they claimed the pill could endanger the lives of young
girls. According to Gianino, however, there is no
scientific evidence to support age restrictions on the
drug.
The Guttmacher Institute reports that the number of
sexually-active 12-year-olds is only about 1 percent,
but nearly 9 percent of young women have had sex by age
14 and more than 10,000 14-year-olds got pregnant in
2008. Gianino declared that excluding them from access
to Plan B doesn't make sense.
"This drug, evidence-based science has said, could
reduce unintended pregnancy by 50 percent," she said.
"And that will reduce the need for abortion. Isn't that
evidence enough?"
The FDA says the drug is safe and prevents pregnancy
when taken within 72 hours but does no harm to a
pregnant woman or her fetus.
Opponents don't want the drug to be available to
teenagers without input from parents and doctors.
The Guttmacher Institute pointed out that a ten-year
decline in
teen pregnancies and abortions was the result of
improved use of contraceptives among teens.
Meantime, the FDA is requiring young women to show
cashiers ID to buy Plan B. But a federal judge is
ordering it to be made available to women of all ages
starting yesterday.
Links and graphic added by the Observer