Free Republic

In new guidelines released Tuesday, U.S. health officials now recommend that certain people take the antibiotic doxycycline as a morning-after pill to lower the risk of some sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). The latest recommendations only apply to gay and bisexual men and transgender women who have had an STD in the past year and are at high risk of getting infected again. While past research has shown that doxycycline works for those populations, there's not enough evidence to recommend the preventive treatment, known as doxy PEP, for all American adults, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention noted.

Students seeking the “morning-after pill” will no longer need to travel further than Silliman College to purchase emergency contraception. A new 24/7 “wellness to-go” vending machine will soon sell emergency contraception, as well as other over-the-counter medications, condoms and lube. The machine will be installed in Silliman’s Good Life Center before winter break. “The point of this is to make Plan B more accessible and to make medications in general more accessible,” said Ileana Valdez ’21, a Yale College Council representative who spearheaded the installation effort. “Hopefully this will set a precedent for more machines to show up around campus...

A woman who survived being shot in the head Saturday may have been ambushed for not taking the morning-after pill, according to arrest records obtained by the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Monday. Metro officers called to an apartment complex at 5400 W. Cheyenne Ave., near Rancho Drive, found Breyana Lewis with a bullet fragment in her head. Lewis was shot at multiple times while in her car in the parking lot. Daquesha Fowler, 20, and Gregory Myrick, 21, were taken into custody in connection with the shooting about two hours later. Arrest records detail a love triangle taking a violent...

PORTLAND, Ore. – Kristen K. Waggoner, lead counsel representing a pharmacy owner and two pharmacists opposed to Washington state regulations that would force them to dispense drugs that can terminate human life after conception, will be available for media interviews Thursday following oral arguments at the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit. “No one should be forced to choose between their religious convictions and their family-owned businesses and livelihoods. This choice is neither necessary nor constitutional,” said Waggoner, senior vice president of legal services for Alliance Defending Freedom and counsel with Seattle-based Ellis, Li & McKinstry PLLC. “The...

Any discussion of Obamacare’s “contraception mandate” must include the fact that the most commonly used emergency contraceptives “can cause the death of a human embryo,” according to a new report by the Washington-based Charlotte Lozier Institute. “Numerous studies have shown that the most popular emergency contraceptives can cause the death of embryos. For the sake of full and accurate informed consent for patients and for the sake of the integrity of the medical profession and research community, this reality must be acknowledged,” writes Susan E. Wills, associate scholar at the institute and author of “New Studies Show All Emergency Contraceptives...

On Monday the liberal magazine Mother Jones reported: The European manufacturer of an emergency contraceptive pill identical to Plan B, also known as the morning-after pill, will warn women that the drug is completely ineffective for women who weigh more than 176 pounds and begins to lose effectiveness in women who weigh more than 165 pounds. [emphasis added] The article also states: Weight data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that, at 166 pounds, the average American woman is too heavy to use these pills effectively [emphasis added]. Add this to the ever-growing body of evidence...

An FDA spokeswoman tells Mother Jones the agency is evaluating whether to require US emergency contraceptive pill makers to change their labels. The European manufacturer of an emergency contraceptive pill identical to Plan B, also known as the morning-after pill, will warn women that the drug is completely ineffective for women who weigh more than 176 pounds and begins to lose effectiveness in women who weigh more than 165 pounds. HRA Pharma, the French manufacturer of the European drug, Norlevo, is changing its packaging information to reflect the weight limits. European pharmaceutical regulators approved the change on November 10, but...

I told you so—the government is bamboozling us about Plan B. The Obama administration announced on Monday that it will now allow girls and women of all ages to purchase the Plan B pill without a prescription. This is exactly what I have been warning the American public about. I am now totally convinced that our current federal government loves confusion. When you have a single agenda, and many ways to spin it, the American public never gets a clear answer and that is exactly what has happened with the Plan B emergency contraception controversy. … This is taking parents...

Barbara Hewson, a London barrister, has made the call for lowering the age of sexual consent in the United Kingdom from 16 to 13. Her reasoning (if one may call it that) is that the current age of consent leads to the harassment and “persecution of old men.” She also believes that underage victims should have no right to anonymity, and that law based on the best interests of the child should not trump the “rights” of men who like to kiss a 13-year-old, or put one’s hand up a 16-year-old’s skirt. time to end this prurient charade, which has...

In a surprise twist to the decade-plus effort to ease access to morning-after pills, the government is lowering the age limit to 15 for one brand - Plan B One-Step - and will let it be sold over the counter.

The FDA made it official today saying the morning after pill known as Plan B should be available without a prescription for teenagers starting at age 15. “Plan B One-Step will not stop a pregnancy when a woman is already pregnant, and there is no medical evidence that the product will harm a developing fetus,” the FDA said in a statement. Some pro-life groups have pointed to comments from the maker of the drug and studies to show that the morning after pill can act as an abortion agent in some cases, terminating the life of a unique human being...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The government is moving the morning-after pill over the counter but only those 15 and older can buy it - an attempt to find middle ground just days before a court-imposed deadline to lift all age restrictions on the emergency contraceptive.

On April 30, the Food and Drug Administration approved over the counter sale of the morning-after pill Plan B One-Step to all women aged 15 and older. Plan B One-Step is the name of the drug, made exclusively by Teva Women's Health, Inc., which acts as an emergency contraceptive which reduces the possibility of pregnancy when taken up to three days after sexual intercourse. It is taken as a single-dose 1.5 mg tablet of levonorgestrel. Pharmacies and retailers with on-site pharmacies will have the drug on shelves, and those wishing to purchase it will have to provide proof of age....

The morning-after pill is to be made available over the counter to anyone in the US aged 15 and over, authorities announced on Tuesday. Days before a court-imposed deadline, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lowered the age limit for Plan B and said it that a prescription would no longer be required to buy it. Instead, the pill can sit on drugstore shelves just like condoms, but buyers will have to prove their age at the cash register. Earlier this month, a federal judge ruled that Plan B should be sold without restriction and gave the FDA 30 days...

Yay! No age restrictions on abortion pills anymore! There's a song for a time like this....what is it? Hmmm....OH YEAH!"Girl, you'll be a woman....soon."To quote a sitting president who shall remain nameless..."FORWARD!"

A federal judge in Brooklyn, New York, has ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make the morning-after birth control pill available to people of any age without a prescription. The order overturned a 2011 decision by Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to require a prescription for girls under 17. The FDA said it couldn't comment because it is an ongoing legal mater. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended last year that oral contraceptives be sold over the counter in an effort to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies in the United States. Opponents of...

A federal judge has ruled that the Unites States government must make the most common morning-after pill available over the counter for all ages, instead of requiring a prescription for girls 16 and under. The decision, on a fraught and politically controversial subject, comes after a decade-long fight over who should have access to the pill and under what circumstances, and it counteracts an unprecedented move by the Obama administration's Health and Human Services secretary who in 2011 overruled a recommendation by the Food and Drug Administration to make the pill available for all ages without a prescription.

Controversy has surrounded Shippensburg University, in Pennsylvania, ever since it decided to provide Plan B, commonly referred to as the “morning-after pill,” in a college campus vending machine along with condoms and other forms of birth control. The Food and Drug Administration said last week that it had looked into the validity of the machine and will take no action against it.

Girls Age 14 Can Get Birth Control At New York City Schools New York City school and health officials are stepping on parental rights by going beyond condom giveaways and giving girls as young as age 14 “morning-after pills” and other chemical contraceptives at school without telling their parents, leaders of traditional values groups said Monday. Their reactions were sparked by news that nurses in 13 public high schools are dispensing Plan B emergency contraception and other products to sexually active students who ask for it. “We’re incensed at the arrogance of this administration. The state is constantly telling parents,...

The New York City Department of Education is making the morning-after-pill available to high school girls at 13 public schools. The DOE says girls as young as 14 will be able to get the Plan B emergency contraception without parental consent. Parents have been notified about the CATCH pilot program and how their daughters can opt out of it. City Council Speaker Christine Quinn says she supports the program because high school students are sexually active and getting pregnant. The city says about 7,000 girls get pregnant by the time they reach the age of 17. It says more than...