Pill poses grave risks

USA Today ^ | 12/29/2003 | Tony Perkins

[presidio9]

The recommendation of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panels this month to allow the morning-after pill to be sold over the counter is not supported by medical facts and may very well bring about devastating consequences. Granting the morning-after pill over-the-counter status will lead women and young girls to think the drug poses no greater threat than other medicines available without a prescription. But the morning-after pill is not "just another contraceptive," and even a passing glance at the facts is sufficient to prove it does not belong on the same shelf as Tylenol and baby aspirin.

[Blood of Tyrants]

No one has been able to answer my question:

What happens when a teenage girl DOESN'T take this pill withing the recommended 72 hours and instead ASSUMES that she didn't get pregnant, finds out a month later that she IS pregnant and then goes to the store and buys 10 pills and takes them all at once?

[Zipporah]

It's unbelievable that this is being considered.. it seems that the agenda of everyone but what is in the best interest of the American people is being pushed forward.

[alancarp]

Good question. Add this one -- how 'bout she waits 96 hours, or takes it up to a month later? Note that these are tests no reputable doctors would even attempt.

[Williams]

I can't quite comprehend this, because there has always been such a strict regulation of drugs and the transition of some prescription drugs to over the counter. Birth control pills themselves are prescription only. I'm very shocked if the FDA would throw that cautious approach out the window and make a powerful drug like this available for general consumption.

[goodnesswins]

Hmmmm....NOW maybe these will be the ONLY pills/drugs allowed at school. ..... /sarcasm

[Lunatic Fringe]

The FDA is no there to protect health... it is there to protect consumers who were being duped in the late 1800s by travling Doctor shows who sold magic elixirs that cured everything. It is also there to ensure the purity of processed foods. It is NOT there to pass moral judgement on advances in medicine.

As far as I am concerned, if the morning after pill prevents pregnancies, then it is a good start to preventing abortions.

[jwalsh07]

FDA's Mission Statement

The FDA is responsible for protecting the public health by assuring the safety, efficacy, and security of human and veterinary drugs, biological products, medical devices, our nation’s food supply, cosmetics, and products that emit radiation. The FDA is also responsible for advancing the public health by helping to speed innovations that make medicines and foods more effective, safer, and more affordable; and helping the public get the accurate, science-based information they need to use medicines and foods to improve their health.

[antiRepublicrat]

NOW maybe these will be the ONLY pills/drugs allowed at school.

Allowed? They'll be distributing them along with the condoms.

[GovernmentShrinker]

The normal dose has no effect after pregnancy (i.e. implantation) is established. As for taking a huge overdose, there are any number of non-prescription medications that can do serious harm if taken in larger quantities than the labelled maximum, including fatal liver damage which can be caused by common over the counter non-aspirin pain relievers.

[Blood of Tyrants]

The "morning after" pill is 40 times the amount of a normal birth control pill (that would be about 1 1/2 to 2 months worth). wWy is taking a VERY LARGE dose "safe" enough to allow 13 year old girls to take yet BCP's are available by prescription only?

What would happen if a girl RELIED on these pills as birth control and used them several times a year?

You KNOW that the pharmacies will absolutely be prohibited from keeping records as to who buys them because of the "right to privacy" even with the potential and very real risks of abuse.

Buy too many sudafed and get a visit by the DEA goons. Buy too many morning after pills and no one is even allowed to say a word.

[GovernmentShrinker]

What would happen if a girl RELIED on these pills as birth control and used them several times a year?

It has very unpleasant, but not life-threatening side effects (nausea, diarrhea, etc.). Even the dumbest girls will figure this out after a few rounds, if they didn't bother to read the label the first time. They'll opt for a less misery-inducing method. Or they'll just puke and squirt frequently. I don't really care, and if they're that stupid, the last thing we need is to have them reproducing.

[GovernmentShrinker]

I'm very shocked if the FDA would throw that cautious approach out the window and make a powerful drug like this available for general consumption.

Until they make acetaminophen and ibuprofen prescription only, there's certainly no medical justification for requiring a prescription for the morning-after pill. These OTC pain relievers have caused permanent liver damage in a huge number of people (including some requiring transplants to survive), and some fatalities. The morning after pill has been available OTC in some European countries for several years, with no such record of serious harm.

[John Beresford Tipton]

"the morning-after pill... may very well bring about devastating consequences"....

as single issue posters search for meaning in their [now to be] empty lives.

[spectre]

"Buy too many sudafed and get a visit by the DEA goons. Buy too many morning after pills and no one is even allowed to say a word."

Just yesterday, I went to our local Neighborhood Marketplace (Walmart Grocery Chain)..and looked for Sudafed. I had to go to the Prescription counter and have it "handed over" to me.

Next, a checker had to put in a card saying I was "over 18" when I made the actual Sudafed purchase. This was serious.

It's not like I'm buying 100 packs to cook Meth..I wanted one stinkin box to stop my sniffles..

Sniff..sniff.

[usmom]

Some quack doctors out there actually give women (and teenage girls) refills on their prescription for the morning after pill. There have been times colleagues of mine (I'm a pharmacist) have had to pull these people aside and say 'this is really not how it's supposed to be used- get on some reliable birth control'. Besides not being healthy to take this frequently, what kind of woman has the guts to admit what a slut she is by getting this prescription filled several times a year (usually on Sunday mornings)!

[bikewench]

Excuse me you f*&cking chauvinist...

What name shall we call the male who impregnated the slut?

[Yaelle]

What happens when a teenage girl DOESN'T take this pill withing the recommended 72 hours and instead ASSUMES that she didn't get pregnant, finds out a month later that she IS pregnant and then goes to the store and buys 10 pills and takes them all at once?

I think nothing, to the baby. She might be vomiting for a day or so, though. The progesterone is supposed to prevent ovulation in a pre-ovulatory woman (ovulation happens in the middle of her cycle), or at least make the uterus unfit for the possible baby to implant. Once you find out you are pregnant, the baby has implanted, and at that point the progesterone actually HELPS the pregnancy. Taking that much will make her feel very sick. Even taking the morning after pill gives women intense nausea for hours.

[presidio9]

as single issue posters search for meaning in their [now to be] empty lives.

I very much doubt that there is any FReeper that posts on a wider variety of subjects than myself.