Gotta Have A Plan B

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Gotta Have A Plan B

Plan B, commonly called the morning-after pill, is a high dose of birth-control pills taken after having unprotected sex. Scientists believe that the high dose of the hormone progestin interferes with ovulation and also prevents implantation of the embryo in the uterus if ovulation has already taken place.

Two doses of the Plan B pill must be taken 12 hours apart. If taken within 72 hours of having unprotected sex, the treatment reduces the risk of pregnancy by 89%. The pills don't work if a woman already is pregnant and won't induce abortion, unlike the controversial RU-486 pill.

Sounds great, right?

Plan B prevents unwanted pregnancies before they start.

But for some reason, the FDA doesn't want to make Plan B broadly available "over the counter".

They are trying to figure out how to keep it out of the hands of 16 years olds even though they are fine with 17 year olds getting access to Plan B.

Excuse me, but wouldn't it be smart to make the pill even more available to younger girls who are less able to handle the responsibilities of having and raising a kid?

We are talking about prevention here, not abortion.

According to the Wall Street Journal, which clearly is in touch with the kind of people who would oppose such a drug, "opponents of making the pill more readily available argue that such access could lead some young teens to have sex, leaving them more vulnerable to sexually transmitted diseases".

This is the kind of ridiculous nonsense that makes me sick.

Here we have an important scientific development, one that could save my kids and their friends from making a big mistake, and we've got nut jobs putting the brakes on it.

I guess that's life in George W. Bush's America.

Good thing we only have 3 more years left.

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Posted August 26, 2005 in Politics

Comments

Actually a recent study found that Plan B does not prevent implantation, just ovulation.

http://wired-vig.wired.com/news/print/0,1294,67432,00.html

Of course the christian right never lets the facts stand in thier way.

Posted by: Brandon | Aug 26, 2005 10:23:31 PM

The morning after pill has also caused a number of deaths due to excess bleeding. I guess that is a small price to pay for people to have sex with out consequences.

It is OK to disagree with the concept of abortion, thoughtful people should respect the heartfelt positions by both sides. It is another thing to be a bold faced bigot. The post by Brandon about the Christian Right is just an excuse to be an anti-religious bigot. How about we change the quote to say "of course Jews, Women, Homosexuals, Atheists and Blacks never let facts stand in their way" Guess Brandon would NEVER say that!!!!!

This country was founded on the principal of religious freedom. To denigrate a religion specifically is just wrong. Why not point out that Moslems also do not allow abortion. How about Orthodox Jews? Why not pick on another religion. Why not go all the way and say those damned Catholics and their Pope are the reason why Women can't get the morning after pill. I guess according to your logic about George Bush, when he is finally out of office, all the religious people in this country and their opinions will not count any more. Should Atheists and people with more liberal positions about the start of life be given more say than people who believe life begins at conception? Is it wrong to be a deeply religious person?

The entire abortion issue should have been left to the individual states and their elected legislatures to decide. When courts step in and decide law, without the participation of the people, this is what you get, bigots on both sides screaming at each other. You are too intelligent not to at least respect other religions.

Posted by: William Smith | Aug 26, 2005 11:17:28 PM

William Smith posts a grab bag of arguments with nothing more coherent than, as best I can tell, a rambling lament that when talking about choice issues in American politics, people fail to mention that is isn't just the fundamentalist Christians who oppose it; many other ones do as well. He ends his substantive comments (other than the rote Federalist argument) with:

Should Atheists and people with more liberal positions about the start of life be given more say than people who believe life begins at conception? Is it wrong to be a deeply religious person?

First, of course it isn't wrong to be deeply religious, and nobody has claimed that it was. Please, I come from a deeply religious family; I would never attempt to take that away from them, nor would I do so with you.

That said, your religion has nothing to do with my body, and the pluralism you use as an odd sort of consensus building doesn't really seem to mesh well with the various attempts to turn the US into something more closely approximating theocracy.

Atheists, Catholics, Bhuddists, and any other religious order can try to persuade a woman as to what should happen with her pregnancy, but none of them have the right to override her wishes for what she wishes to do with her own body. It is really pretty simple: no belief trumps any other, unless you include self-determination, liberty, and that sort of thing in the category of belief.

(In which case, I have to assert that I believe in the Flying Spaghetti Monster, who guarantees the personal sphere of autonomy. Arggggh, Ramen!)

Posted by: Davis O'Brannan | Aug 26, 2005 11:51:03 PM

You stated
“The morning after pill has also caused a number of deaths due to excess bleeding.”
First, if you make a claim, back up with gee I don’t know … evidence! I sincerely doubt the FDA would even consider over the counter sales if Plan B had been proven to be unsafe.

Does condemning religious fundamentalism make me a bigot? Should I not point out that the religious right has historically ignored Science (example Evolution, Global Warming). Don’t give me that Bullshit! It’s not the same. It is perfectly fine to criticize someone for their beliefs. Especially when those beliefs include trampling on the freedoms of others.

Abortion should be left to the pregnant woman. The state has no right to force a woman to carry a child that she does not want.

Posted by: Brandon | Aug 27, 2005 12:05:06 AM

btw as mentioned before Plan B does not prevent implantation. Therefore in no way can it be considered an abortion.

The FDA's (regarding Plan B) website states
"There is no evidence that a woman’s use of Plan B while she is pregnant will result in abortion."

As for William Smith's claim that Plan B resulted in several deaths the FDA states

"There have been no reported deaths; most of the adverse events (AEs) attributed to the drug are mild and short-term."

I tried posting the link but an error occured because the website thought it was comment spam

But hey don't let the facts get in your way ;-)

Posted by: Brandon | Aug 27, 2005 1:28:16 AM

Brandon, The statement "Of course the christian right never lets the facts stand in thier way." is left wing religious bigotry. Maybe the sound of your knuckles dragging on the ground drowned out the main point of the argument. Could that be simple enough???

Maybe if I made my argument in French, you would have understood it better. Next time you make an argument, try to leave your religious bigotry at home.

Next point the quote " I come from a deeply religious family;" is really the same argument racists make when they excuse their bigotry with "I am not a racist, I know a lot of black people"

Ok now the point, "Abortion should be left to the pregnant woman. The state has no right to force a woman to carry a child that she does not want." Do you really want to argue this? Following your argument, a nine month old fetus should be allowed to be aborted because it is not born yet. At what point do you draw the line and allow the state to force the woman to carry the child????? Many religious people believe that life begins at conception. Therefore all abortion is murder. Many other reasonable people believe that abortion should not be allowed after a fetus becomes viable. They believe after about 4-5 months the state does have the right to force a woman to carry the child to term. Other people believe that there should be no limits at all. Which one is right? Some people look to religion for an absolute. Some people do not. Only people who are complete idiots or are French do not respect all of these points of view in the never ending abortion debate. I respect all of these points of view and believe that the people themselves should decide what is the right balance here, not the courts.

OK, I am a bigot against the French and idiots.

Posted by: William Smith | Aug 27, 2005 3:44:43 AM

William I notice you didn't comment how I called you on your bullshit claim that Plan B has caused deaths. Instead you continue with your sad bigotry argument. But at the end of your post you state

"OK, I am a bigot against the French and idiots."

You must be self-hating. Poor dear.

“Many religious people believe that life begins at conception.” I’ve noticed these same people don’t hold a funeral when there is a miscarriage.

"I respect all of these points of view and believe that the people themselves should decide what is the right balance here, not the courts." By "people themselves" of course you mean not the individual carrying the child.

"Do you really want to argue this? Following your argument, a nine month old fetus should be allowed to be aborted because it is not born yet." No my point is the woman should be able to make this choice. Until the child is born it is a part of her, its called self-determination.

Of course this whole argument started with my Plan B statement on how the christian right tends to ignore science. You showed yourself to be a victim their misinformation you stated that Plan B kills people, when the FDA has no such findings. Another claim that is often made by these christian fundamentalist nut jobs is the Plan B affects an already fertilized egg, when numerous studies have shown this to be false. But science and reason hasn’t stood in their way from continuing to make this claim now has it?

Posted by: Brandon | Aug 27, 2005 11:45:16 AM

William,

- I'm sure your god can explain it, but I have no idea why you're randomly attacking French people here. That's rather strange.

- Please, stop playing the Christian in the lion pit game. You're not persecuted. Leaders representing your opionions are running the country. (into the ground.)

- Pointing out that there are different opinions on abortion is just a little like saying people like to have money. Doesn't get us anywhere.

- In a secular nation, laws, not religion, are what govern behaviour (Note: you explicitly accepted this when you pulled the federalism argument out). In a just secular nation (this is where I'll probably lose you), people's bodies do not belong to the state. You might notice that even your fundamentalist buddies in Congress seem to accept this; they don't want to draft anyone for our latest little colonial adventure (even the ones with the super power that allows them to diagnose medical conditions from snippets of videotape). Women have no obligation to host unwanted guests.

- Again, for emphasis: disagreeing with you does not equal persecution. Please drop that silly rhetorical gambit: it really is simply dumb.

Posted by: Davis O'Brannon | Aug 27, 2005 1:15:58 PM

Well, it seems that the NY Times today is talking about mysterious deaths involving the morning after pill. Anyone want to let their 14 year old daughter take this pill now without a parent's knowledge? How about your wife or girlfriend?

Read the article for more details:
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/23/national/23pill.htm

Posted by: William Smith | Nov 23, 2005 9:55:26 AM

A VC

Musings of a VC in NYC