The U.S. Food and Drug Administration was all set to make Plan B an over-the-counter drug available to all females of child-bearing age. The agency reviewed studies of those younger than 17 (the current minimum age at which a person does not need a prescription), and determined allowing those females unrestricted access was safe.
If the plan had been implemented, you would have been able to get Plan B off the shelf right next to condoms.
But then U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius stepped in and said, "No way," exercising the department's right to veto the FDA decision.
Maybe Sebelius has been watching too much "Walking Dead." A recent episode of that popular AMC zombie show featured a key character taking multiple doses of the morning after pill in an attempt to cause an abortion. Uhhhh, that has as much chance of working as the cast of that show wising up and moving to an island where the zombies can't get them.
It's just the kind of misinformation that keeps those who want to control women's bodies and block them from getting access to birth control in business. From the beginning, they have spread these kinds of lies to limit access to the morning after pill.
Emergency contraception will not cause a miscarriage. Plan B works to prevent fertilization of an egg within 72 hours of unprotected sex. In other words, it prevents a pregnancy, it doesn't end one.
And there is no evidence that its use will harm minors of child-bearing age.
When will our government make decisions about medication based on science, not politics?
