Plan B pill approved.

[Steff]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14497678/

 

FDA OKs non-prescription ‘morning-after’ pill

Decision allows over-the-counter sale of Plan B for those 18 or older

 

WASHINGTON - Women may buy the morning-after pill without a prescription — but only with proof they’re 18 or older, federal health officials ruled Thursday, capping a contentious 3-year effort to ease access to the emergency contraceptive.

 

Girls 17 and younger still will need a doctor’s note to buy the pills, called Plan B, the Food and Drug Administration told manufacturer Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.

 

The compromise decision is a partial victory for women’s advocacy and medical groups that say eliminating sales restrictions could cut in half the nation’s 3 million annual unplanned pregnancies.

 

The pills are a concentrated dose of the same drug found in many regular birth-control pills. When a woman takes the pills within 72 hours of unprotected sex, they can lower the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 percent. If she already is pregnant, the pills have no effect.

 

Barr has said it hopes to begin nonprescription sales of Plan B by the end of the year. The pills will be sold only from behind the counter at pharmacies — so the pharmacist can check photo identification — but not at convenience stores or gas stations.

 

There isn’t enough scientific evidence that young teens can safely use Plan B without a doctor’s supervision, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, the FDA’s acting commissioner, said in a memo obtained by The Associated Press.

 

But Barr did prove that over-the-counter use is safe for older teens and adults — and licensed pharmacies are used to checking for proof of age 18 before selling tobacco and certain other products, von Eschenbach wrote in explaining the agency’s age cutoff.

 

“This approach should help ensure safe and effective use of the product,” he concluded.

[whitesoxfan101]

Curious what your thoughts are on this subject Steff...

[Steff]

Curious what your thoughts are on this subject Steff...

 

 

 

My thoughts are specific to my body.

 

 

I have no interest in playing God.

[whitesoxfan101]

My thoughts are specific to my body.

I have no interest in playing God.

 

So your saying it's a personal decision up to each individual? Hmm ok, I agree with that if so. This country DEFINITELY tries to play God way too much, annoys the hell outta me. The morality police need to clean their own closet before they try to do so with others.

[Queen Prawn]

My thoughts are specific to my body.

I have no interest in playing God.

 

I pretty much agree with you on this. The bill sounds like a happy medium to me though. Surprises me since lately the bills that are in Congress/HofR are heavily sided one way or another.

[whitesoxfan101]

I pretty much agree with you on this. The bill sounds like a happy medium to me though. Surprises me since lately the bills that are in Congress/HofR are heavily sided one way or another.

 

Yeah I actually think this is a great compromise, for once they got it right.

[My Dixie Normus]

I thought 'playing God' was deciding who lives or dies? Isn't that what the person having an abortion does? I have no problem with the morning after pill if it does prevent conception but from what I have read, it only prevents implantation of the fertilized egg into the uterine wall. That is a little different story.

Edited August 24, 2006 by My Dixie Normus

[Balta1701]

I thought 'playing God' was deciding who lives or dies? Isn't that what the person having an abortion does? I have no problem with the morning after pill if it does prevent conception but from what I have read, it only prevents implantation of the fertilized egg into the uterine wall. That is a little different story.

Actually, there's been a fair amount of debate as to actually how Plan B works...a bunch of different ideas have been presented...that it prevents release of the egg, that it prevents conception, that it prevents implantation, etc.

 

I don't have a link right now, but IIRC, the most recent evidence has gone in the direction of suggesting that the main way it works is the first of those...preventing release of the egg. It may also do the others, and it's not a 100% case yet, but that seems to be the primary means.

 

And, just to make another point...you say it's "a different story" that the egg doesn't implant. So what is your reaction to the fact that failure to implant is actually something that happens at least a non-trivial amount of times on its own?

[Steff]

I thought 'playing God' was deciding who lives or dies? Isn't that what the person having an abortion does? I have no problem with the morning after pill if it does prevent conception but from what I have read, it only prevents implantation of the fertilized egg into the uterine wall. That is a little different story.

 

 

 

The bold red words didn't catch your eye...?

[whitesoxfan101]

The bold red words didn't catch your eye...?

 

A FREAKING MEN!! Reading is a skill folks.

[samclemens]

preventing unwanted pregnancies = good

 

thats my take

[SoxFan562004]

I can't wait for people to completely ignore the sentence you put in bold red. Howard Stern played a clip from the View where Hasselbeck went insane about this, and started weeping and interupting people, and finally Walters had to basically yell at her like she was an 8 year old having a fit.

 

This is not an abortion pill, but people will just ignore that and continue to be up in arms.

[Steff]

I can't wait for people to completely ignore the sentence you put in bold red. Howard Stern played a clip from the View where Hasselbeck went insane about this, and started weeping and interupting people, and finally Walters had to basically yell at her like she was an 8 year old having a fit.

 

This is not an abortion pill, but people will just ignore that and continue to be up in arms.

 

 

Hasselback IS an 8 year old.

[Rex Kickass]

The sad thing is that the only reason the FDA finally issued a decision on it is that they weren't going to get any new FDA commisioners until the body made an up or down decision on making Plan B available over the counter. Some Democrat Senators assured of it. Their "hold" on putting new FDA commissioners in wasn't based on approval - although the new FDA comissioner nominated did approve of Plan B being made available over the counter - but rather this decision which had been put off two years.

[StrangeSox]

Actually, there's been a fair amount of debate as to actually how Plan B works...a bunch of different ideas have been presented...that it prevents release of the egg, that it prevents conception, that it prevents implantation, etc.

 

I don't have a link right now, but IIRC, the most recent evidence has gone in the direction of suggesting that the main way it works is the first of those...preventing release of the egg. It may also do the others, and it's not a 100% case yet, but that seems to be the primary means.

 

And, just to make another point...you say it's "a different story" that the egg doesn't implant. So what is your reaction to the fact that failure to implant is actually something that happens at least a non-trivial amount of times on its own?

 

I've read that it depends on when exactly during the cycle that the sex occurs. Most times, it'll simply prevent the egg from dropping. However, if the egg already has dropped, it can prevent it from attaching.

[Texsox]