I think you may be confusing Plan B with RU-486, the latter has been responsible for a certain number of deaths which usually are reported as toxic shock syndrome or sepsis, instead of incomplete medicinally-induced abortion.
The wise and powerful Planned parenthood helps young girls find what the laws of parental consent are in their home states through a flashy teenage targeted site - Teenwire.
It even mentions that "sometimes another adult is allowed to give the necessary consent."
I'm guessing that's why the Child Custody Protection Act (H.R. 748)passed on July 25. This won't allow a non-parental adult to take a minor across state lines to obtain an abortion in violation of the consent laws of the minor's home state.
Carper had some sense and voted for this one - who knew?
I digress...
There is a line between contraceptive (which I'm okay with in concept) and abortion (which I'm very much against).
Just because I think contraceptives are more acceptable than abortion (in that nobody dies), I still think it's an awful idea to hand it out to minors prescription-free. I'd just as soon start letting middle school boys pick up creatine over the counter.
I'm sure I'd be labed a Christianist by certain people for thinking that putting the cart before the horse is a bad thing. I think the media does enough every day to make children think that's the norm without any government endorsement.
Well, it only makes sense that minors can't get drugs without parental consent. They aren't allowed an ibuprofen at school without parental authorization. they aren't allowed to buy cigarettes. They ought not be allowed to buy drugs.
Personally, I still think the time to think about birth control is before screwing around and not after.
"I think you may be confusing Plan B with RU-486, the latter has been responsible for a certain number of deaths which usually are reported as toxic shock syndrome or sepsis, instead of incomplete medicinally-induced abortion."
What is the difference?
Plan B is not meant to be used once a woman is pregnant, but within 72 hours of intercourse. RU-486 AKA mifepristone is for after conception up to seven weeks and has to be followed by misoprostol to expel the dead baby.
The idea of trials for this drug are rather repugnant to me. Pregnant women potentially being paid to abort their babies as part of a clinical trial...
Ironically RU-486 was originally intended to be an anti-cancer drug.
Have a look at this article that reprints an article from the Washington Times.
Oh, I know RU-486 = bad...I am just not sure exactly how "Plan B" works...but my instinct points to it being abortion.
Plan B is something to be used between intercourse and pregnancy - a very small window if conditions were good for conception anyhow.
I can see where it can be considered abortion if conception has occured in that time period and the drug prevents implantation. But the intent and approved use of the drug is as a contraceptive rather than abortificant.
Anna Venger has done her own post on the subject and included this link to the NIH.
Either way, intentionally messing around with the hormones of teenagers without parental consent is a bad thing since teen hormones tend to be in a state of flux by nature.
Hat's off to any poor soul who has had the misfortune to teach middle or high school.
The way I understand it the Plan B pill prevents conception from being able to occur. It does not abort a fetus or fertilized embryo. It prohibits pregnancy from occuring therefore it's more along the lines of birth control pills. If available as an over-the-counter pill I believe it will reduce the number of abortions because anyone (even those without health insurance therefore likely to not be on birth control) can get them with ease.
This is a good thing. I believe adults should be able to have consensual sex without having to fear pregnancy by using birth control (not abortion) be it the pill, condoms or this Plan B method. There should be a second option in case Plan A (condom for instance) malfunctions or in the case of rape.
But what if conception has already occured?
and what are the long-term effects on the health of the woman?
What happens if you continue taking birth control pills while your pregnant but unaware of it? I don't know. I'm not a doctor.
I would guess the "long term effects" would mimic those of birth control pills. Either way your juicing your body with a large amount of hormones. We all know the risks of taking birth control pills and yet millions do it every day. It should be up to them whether they want to chance their health instead of chancing pregnancy.
Like I said, from what I remember reading it prohibits conception from occuring. It doen't abort a fetus or fertilized egg.
If conception has already occurred, Plan B is ineffective, as it contains the same hormones as the tradition pill (which has not conclusively been shown to be of danger to a fetus), but in higher doses. Those hormones are the same hormones produced during pregnancy, I might add. The mechanism for both Plan B and the traditional pill is to create an environment that is hostile to conception, and in the case of traditional birth control, to "trick" the body into believing it is already pregnant.
Plan B being available over-the-counter is good pro-life and pro-choice policy and should be one of the few areas where both camps agree, as making Plan B more readily available would reduce the number of abortions in the United States.
Also, most risks associated with birth control occur in women who smoke or who have heart disease. To my knowledge, no substantial data has shown the pill to cause any long term damage to a woman's health.
If available as an over-the-counter pill I believe it will reduce the number of abortions because anyone (even those without health insurance therefore likely to not be on birth control) can get them with ease.
This is a good thing. I believe adults should be able to have consensual sex without having to fear pregnancy by using birth control (not abortion) be it the pill, condoms or this Plan B method. There should be a second option in case Plan A (condom for instance) malfunctions or in the case of rape.
The question that the legislation begs to ask - will women start using Plan B like the Pill if it is an OTC on a frequent enough basis to cause themselves harm without a doctor's supervision? Are women without health insurance more likely to do this? It may be possible that two pills of Plan B may be more cost effective than a monthly supply of the Pill. Could OTC Plan B free men from the idea that they should use condoms if their main concern is pregnancy - leading to higher rates of STDs - especially in those who cannot afford health insurance?
Plan B even in name sounds like something that shouldn't be used frequently.
I have a real issue with the argument that falls under either pro-easy-access-abortion or pro-easy-access-plan-B that states that easy access ensures that people of lesser means can do so, implying that they should do so.
The last time I was privy to a conversation like this someone bemoaned the fact that abortion was so expensive in that the wealthier classes abort more often, the poorer ones do not, therefore the upper and middle classes shrink while lower classes rise. This- from a very liberal Democrat whose party line is that conservatives and Republicans hate the poor. She didn't hate the poor, just wanted to encourage them to contracept or kill their unborn.
Sadly, waiting for marriage never entered into the conversation as if it was too ridiculous an idea to entertain.
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