Posted on 07/31/2006 11:39:55 AM PDT by markomalley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Non-prescription sales of a "morning-after" contraceptive could be approved for women 18 and older within weeks, U.S. health officials said on Monday in a surprise announcement after years of delays.
Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Plan B pills would be kept behind pharmacy counters and women would need to ask for them, a Food and Drug Administration official said. Anyone younger than 18 still would need a prescription.
(Excerpt) Read more at today.reuters.com ...
Plan B is believed to act as an emergency contraceptive principally by preventing ovulation or fertilization (by altering tubal transport of sperm and/or ova). In addition, it may inhibit implantation by altering the endometrium.
The last sentence gives it away...
Great, I can't buy sudafed over the counter without signing a registry. And if you want anything stronger than an advil to kill pain you have to go to a Dr. and beg and be looked at as an addict, but if you want a drug to end a human life you can buy it OTC.
Seems safe enough to me...only a FEW women have died from taking this pill as a prescribed drug. I'm sure the counter at the drug store will offer equally safe advice and counseling on who should take an abortion pill and when. And it will ONLY be purchased by informed consumers for their own personal use.
Sarc meter off.
It is also a horrible message we are sending to the youth of America. It is perfectly fine to go out and fornicate as much as they want, and there will be no consequences. They can just take a pill or two, and all their problems go down the drain.
The morning after pill the new abortion clinic.
Private and economical.
What ever happen to traditional birth control in mainstream society?
And the public school system is automatically immunizing 11yr olds for STD's without parental consent.
Crazy ain't it.
Watch a couple hours of broadcast TV. You'll see ads for half a dozen pills that are touted as having the same effect.
Oh, but we aren't supposed to believe that the embryo is a person! It's just a clump of cells! (end sarcasm)
But it's for their own GOOD, donchaknow!
After all, everybody knows that all 12 y/o and older children must scr** like rabbits. They can't control it, right?
/sarc
LOL, they can duel with the Viagra commercials.
Please FreepMail me if you want on or off my Pro-Life Ping List.
It's bad science to use the package insert disclaimer and ignore all sorts of new evidence that the Plan B protocol only works to block ovulation and therefore will only work for 5 days before ovulation (the most fertile period in a natural cycle, anyway) and may actually increase the implantation of any embryo after fertilization (if the embryo is in the uterus when the hormone effects are present). Croxatto and Durand have documented the lack of change in the uterine wall with the progesterone-only protocols.
The most significant are the studies from Brazil
by Croxatto and his group (H.B. Croxatto et al. / Contraception 70
(2004) 442450)," which was a blind study, cycling women who were
otherwise unable to get pregnant (sterilized or with - what I consider
unethical and potentially abortifacient - IUD's) through 3 courses -
placebo, and two forms of progesterone-only pills. The researchers
followed the women with serial ultrasound and hormonal blood essays.
There is a study by Durand, et.al. (M. Durand et al. / Contraception 71
(2005) 451 457), from 2001 which tested surgically sterilized women
given 2 doses of Levonorgestrel, 12 hours apart. These women were
studied by serial ultrasounds and women who ovulated also underwent
endometrial biopsy. There was no difference in their uterine lining
function or anatomy although there was a difference in the expression of
glycodelin-A. This protein prevents binding of the sperm to the zona
pellucida of the oocyte and so, prevents fertilization. (There is some
speculation that the protein acts to help implantation, too.)
I do not believe that hormone preparations should be "OTC" or dispensed without a physician's prescription, however. A woman with unprotected sex is likely to have more problems than a risk of "unwanted pregnancy."
The pill does not work to acheive the public health goal of fewer pregnancies and/or cutting intentional interventional abortions.
None have died from this pill. You are confusing the morning after pill with RU-486, as so many seem to do. They are completely different drugs.
How dare the government stay out of our personal lives.
Agreed completely. As long as the action contemplated has the consent of all concerned, the government SHOULD stay out.
Naturally, the baby's consent should be gotten before the mother off's him or her (involuntary euthanasia is illegal...unless you are in the Netherlands or Florida). Of course, that consent really can't be effectively gotten for approximately 18 years and 9 months. So in the meantime, I think there is somebody who CAN'T speak for him/herself who needs protecting.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.