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Plan B Approved for 17-Year-Olds
19 Comments | Posted by Sasha in Plan B, Reproductive Rights, abortion
The FDA on Wednesday decided to overturn one of the most controversial health rulings of the Bush administration, allowing 17-year-old women (and their male partners) access to Plan B contraception without a prescription.
Plan B — which prevents pregnancy after unprotected sex and is not the same as the abortion pill, RU-486 — was previously only available to people eighteen and older without a prescription. The agency’s decision came after a judge in New York ruled last month that the agency’s decision to limit easy access to Plan B to those 18 and older was driven by politics, not science. He gave the agency 30 days to lower the age limit to 17.
Interestingly, since Plan B’s arrival on the market in 2006, it’s had no measurable impact on abortion rates or on teenage pregnancy rates. Proponents of Plan B hoped it would slash the abortion rates in half, and opponents claimed it would encourage unprotected sex and increase abortion rates. So far, it’s done neither. “This is not going to be a cheap cure to the unintended pregnancy epidemic in this country,” said James Trussell, director of the Office of Population Research at Princeton University. “It’s very depressing.”
This surprises me. I’ll admit that I’ve taken Plan B, and I was grateful for it. At the time, I didn’t even realize I could get it over the counter. I arrived at a Planned Parenthood to ask for a prescription, and they told me I could just go to any pharmacy and pick it up. When I picked it up from the pharmacy, the man working behind the counter said, “Thank goodness for this pill. I’m so glad you ladies can get it so easily.” Would I have become pregnant otherwise? Who knows. I’d learned that certain antibiotics I was taking could interfere with the effectiveness of the birth control pill, which I’d been using with my boyfriend, and I was worried. I was incredibly relieved for Plan B. But I’d expected a long, drawn-out meeting with a doctor at Planned Parenthood, and I’d expected to have to pay for the visit as well as the pill. Perhaps the issue here is that women aren’t aware that Plan B is so easily accessible?
Regardless, teen pregnancy rates in the US are staggering. One in three girls under the age of 20 will get pregnant, with 80 percent of the pregnancies unplanned. I couldn’t find statistics on how many of those young girls will wind up getting abortions, but I’m gonna assume it’s higher than any of us would like it to be. What an difficult choice to have to make as a teenager — an abortion will be emotionally scarring for the young woman and her partner, and a teen pregnancy will radically change their lives as well.
So, ladies, if you don’t know, now you know: If you’re concerned, Plan B is available over the counter at a pharmacy near you, and now it’s available to 17-year-olds as well.
i just heard about this on the news, and the newscaster referred to it as a way to terminate pregnancy. if that is a commonly held belief among people, maybe that is part of why more women aren’t using it. the way it works is by preventing implantation; if the egg has already implanted then it’s too late…so how the heck is that terminating a pregnancy? aaaahh so frustrating!
Ugh, that’s so ignorant and annoying. It is NOT an abortion. Like you said, it prevents implantation. Good point.
It prevents implantation, which is something that birth control pills also do (certain ones make it “difficult to implant”) so annoying people think it does anything else. It clearly says that if an egg implants, it DOESN’T work anymore. I took it once and I was still a virgin XD We were concerned about an “ejaculatory incident”.
Is the pill expensive?
50 bucks. (*I work at Rite Aid)
I got it for free at planned parenthood like 2 years ago
I went with a friend to planned parenthood last year and it was 40
Lordy, I remember the look I got from a friend when I had talked about how this pill was a good idea. She was thinking it terminated pregnancies as well. I don’t think it’s been well explained to people.
The whole point seems to be a lack of sexual education, not a lack of acceptable options. Women and girls need to know what their options are, and what are the consequences of those actions.
Personally, I am unsure of my feelings on the availability of this pill. Not because of any pretense that it is abortifacient, but because I am afraid people (of all ages) will use it as “lazy birth control”. I knew a girl in college, a smart, confident woman whose boyfriend – also educated and mature – was not willing to wear a condom. So she would frequently use the morning after pill. I know it has the same function as birth control, but (correct me if Im wrong) isn’t it much stronger of a dose? The prolonged use of these products can cause long-term damage to your baby-making pieces.
I suppose my point is that we need better education on what the options and consequences are, for sexual beings of all ages, not just our teenage population.
Two of my friends were raped, the same night, by different men.
They both took plan b- I don’t think you should be throwing around the term “Lazy Birth Control”,
I agree it should not be used as birth control, but if it wasn’t for that pill things might have turned out differently for them.
I don’t think that “Patty O’Green” meant that all use of plan B pills can be thought of as “lazy birth control”. Clearly your friends being rapped is completely different then two consenting adults not using condoms and purchasing plan B the next day. It’s horrible that your friends had to go through that and thank goodness plan B was there to help with part of the stress in dealing with and recovering from such an awful thing.
However, I think that “Patty O’Green” brings up a good point. I’m a senior in college and throughout the last 4 years I’ve witnessed a lot of my girlfriends take it on multiple occasions, sometimes really close to the previous time they took it. And we joke about how “thanks goodness it’s there to aid us the morning after a crazy night”. Now don’t get me wrong, I think it’s great how available it is and it can be bought without the stress of divulging your sexual history to a doctor before hand. I myself have taken in once myself, but I have to wonder about the effects of taking it multiple times can have on the body.
I honestly, can’t say I know, and as recently back on the singles scene I have full intention of practicing safe sex but there are always mistakes or scares. I intend to ask during my next gyno visit about it but I think this information should be more available. Maybe my friends and I have taken a more passive roll in knowing all about it and that should be rectified, however, I’m sure I’m not alone.
Hopefully as this pill becomes more popularized then it already is the information will too, especially for some women out there that I do believe use it as a quick fix instead of acting more responsible.
Peace and safe lovin’ ladies!
Two friends were raped in one night? Do they live inside a prison or are they just ardent Lacrosse fans?
P.S. At $50 a pop – no pun intended – I hardly think people will be using this frequently as a “lazy birth control”. However, even if they did… so what. No one else’s business. Eff Off Patty
well, your college friend is kind of being stupid. she should just go on the pill, then she doesn’t have to go buy plan b every time she has sex.
oh, and btw, if a boy refuses to wear condoms, I like to think of it as HE NEVER WEARS THEM aka probably ripe with disease. She better pray he is clean and not cheating on her.
Sasha, Did your doctor not tell you at the time about antibiotics affecting the pill when they subscribed them? If not, they so should have. I’d be so angry if I became pregnant because my doctor had assumed I already knew that.
When ‘pregnancy’ begins is questionable. In order for this to ‘prevent pregnancy’ rather than ‘abort a pregnancy’ assumes that pregnancy begins at implantation. For the many people who believe that pregnancy (or life) begins at fertilization, this is an abortion, as the fertilized egg already makes you pregnant.
well… sort of
“Plan B works through delaying or preventing ovulation, by interfering with fertilization (inhibiting the movement of the egg or the sperm through the fallopian tube), and may inhibit implantation by altering the lining of the uterus.” (http://www.mckinley.uiuc.edu/Handouts/plan_b_contraception.html)
Mostly it prevents eggs from being released and tries to stop fertilization. It’s pretty much just like taking the bc pill. The pill also makes it harder from an egg to implant. So, really, if you think plan B is abortin-y, then so is the pill
Sex education in this country is terrible. Knowledge about this pill, including it’s function, benefits and risks, should be available to any woman who have to take it, for whatever reason. My best friend is studying pharmacology, and without her I never would have known it existed. It makes me feel safe to know that if I’m concerned about getting pregnant from a sexual encounter, consensual or otherwise, I have options that won’t leave me broke, emotionally or financially.
I needed this once, in 1997. Information on it was hard to find, and I ended up going to an urgent care place. I’m pretty sure I had to get a prescription. I was surprised to find that they gave me a pack of birth control pills with instructions to take them over the course of the day. (As I said, information was hard to find!) It was not a very pleasant experience. They said it would cause nausea, and boy was that right!
Glad to see times have changed.
I totally agree with this pill, i have never taken it, but i think it’s a great idea.