Plan B, now OTC in NYC Options

[Comptine]

wnbc.com

'Plan B' To Hit Drug Store Shelves

NEW YORK -- The Plan B emergency contraceptive will be available over the counter in New York pharmacies starting this week, and City Hall is providing information about the drug on its 311 telephone information hot line, the health department said Tuesday.

Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. said last week that the contraceptive, also known as the morning after pill, would be available over the counter in U.S. pharmacies this month following the Food and Drug Administration's decision in August to allow women to buy it without prescriptions. Girls still need doctor's notes.

When the FDA made that decision, Plan B was available without prescription in just nine states that had acted on their own to allow the over-the-counter purchase: Washington, California, New Mexico, Alaska, Hawaii, Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Vermont.

But within the metro area, pharmacies are just now beginning to offer it over the counter. The Rite Aid chain said the drug has arrived in some stores and it expects to have the drug available in all its stores nationwide by the end of the week, spokeswoman Jody Cook said.

In New York, the assistant commissioner of the health department's Bureau of Maternal, Infant and Reproductive Health, Deborah Kaplan, said the city wants to spread the word about the increased access to the pill.

"Plan B is a safe and effective way to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex," Kaplan said in a statement.

Barr Pharmaceuticals has sold Plan B as a prescription drug since 1999, but advocates say its over-the-counter availability is crucial to preventing unwanted pregnancies because the drug is more effective the faster it is taken.

Some conservatives oppose emergency contraception because they believe it is a form of abortion.

Plan B has no effect on a pregnancy if it has already occurred. It contains a high dose of the drug found in birth control pills and works by halting ovulation and preventing fertilization of the egg.

Barr did not know how many pharmacies would be selling the drug in New York, company spokeswoman Carol Cox said. The company's Duramed Pharmaceuticals unit was granted three-year exclusive marketing rights to the drug by the FDA.

Before the debate was whether or not women should even be able to go to a doctor to get this emergency conception. Now the debate is whether or not women can just walk into the pharmacy to get it.

Although, I am pro-choice, I think this might end up being a quick-fix/birth control method for a lot of girls who have sex carelessly. But then, the point of emergency conception is to take it before time runs out. What if the woman cannot receive care in time? It might not even be careless, unprotected sex. It could be a broken condom or sexual assault (for women who are afraid of the after effects of a sexual assault but too scared to go get help).

What do you think? Do you think that this is even worse than abortion itself? Now, anyone (above 18 or, if they are under 18, with a prescription) can walk into like Rite Aid and get it, instead of going through screenings, tests, and counseling like before?