Plan B Should Be Available For Any Age

A couple of weeks ago, a federal judge in New York ordered that the Plan B contraceptive (commonly called the "morning-after pill") should be available over-the-counter (without any prescription) to all women -- regardless of age. It was no surprise that the GOP howled loudly at the idea, since many of them are opposed to any kind of contraceptive. But the most disappointing thing was the reaction of the Obama administration.

The White House has refused to completely follow the judge's order -- going only halfway. They decreed that Plan B would be available over-the-counter, but only to those 15 years-old or older. Those under 15 will still need their parents permission to buy the drug. This is nothing more than a lack of political courage, since the Plan B drug is very safe.

The judge's decision was not something out of left field -- not was it unreasonable. He simply did what most obstetricians and gynecologists have been recommending for quite a while now. And at the recent convention of the American Congress of Obstetricians & Gynecologists, the doctors once again called for the drug to be made available to everyone over-the-counter. Here are some of their comments:

– Owen Montgomery, MD: “I would much rather have a 13- to 14-year-old girl who needs emergency contraception have access to it than come to my office with an unwanted pregnancy… In our clinics in the university, we see lots and lots of teenagers. And many of these young ladies have no access to good parental role models, and they need access to emergency contraception when they need access. And they can’t wait for permission from a judge, or someone else of authority.”

– Alison Edelman, MD, MPH, of Oregon Health & Science University: “Emergency contraception is a really, really important part of our toolkit for contraception. It helps women who have emergencies, i.e., they aren’t using contraception at the time of sexual activity or they had a misstep with their contraception, like a condom break or slip.”

– Barbara S. Levy, MD, ACOG’s vice president for health policy: “There’s failure of other methods. There are rapes. There are other things that occur. Women need to be able to access emergency contraception and have the knowledge and understanding of how to use it, so we can prevent unwanted pregnancies and unintended pregnancies that happen, because life happens.”

– Laurie J. McKenzie, MD, of both the University of Texas and Baylor College of Medicine: “I find it very interesting that there are these concessions that are being made in terms of age limitation … There are more deaths associated with Tylenol overdose than there are with oral contraceptive overdoses or potential overdose with Plan B. There have never, to my knowledge, been any overdoses with hormonal contraception.”

– Eve Espey, MD, MPH, of the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque: “Plan B should be over the counter… All emergency contraceptives should be over the counter with no age restrictions.”