http://www.cwfa.org/articles/11112/CWA/life/index.htm
On May 6, 2004, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declined to make the
morning-after pill, also known as Plan B, available over-the-counter (OTC)
without a prescription.

Proponents of the morning-after pill fought back,
alleging that "politics trumped science." But do their claims stand up to
scrutiny?

Claim #1: The morning-after pill does NOT cause an abortion.
Web sites that promote the morning-after pill claim that it "will not cause
an abortion."

However, they also state that one way that the morning-after
pill can prevent pregnancy is by inhibiting implantation in the uterus.

They
fail to say what is inhibited from implanting. It is an embryo, a human in
the earliest stage of life.

Claim #2: The morning-after pill has been adequately tested and is safe for
all users.

The FDA declined to approve the morning-after pill to be available
over-the-counter (OTC) because it has not been adequately tested to ensure
that this high level of hormones can be used safely by adolescents,

Claim #3: The morning-after pill will be used for emergencies only.
Proponents describe "emergency" as any "unprotected intercourse or a known
or suspected contraceptive failure (i.e., a broken condom)." The
morning-after pill is seen as another form of birth control.

http://www.cwfa.org/articles/11112/CWA/life/index.htm



On May 6, 2004, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declined to make

morning-after pill, also known as Plan B, available over-the-counter (OTC)
without a prescription. Proponents of the morning-after pill fought back,
alleging that "politics trumped science." But do their claims stand up to
scrutiny?

http://www.cwfa.org/articles/11112/CWA/life/index.htm
On May 6, 2004, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declined to make

morning-after pill, also known as Plan B, available over-the-counter (OTC)
without a prescription. Proponents of the morning-after pill fought back,
alleging that "politics trumped science." But do their claims stand up to
scrutiny?

Claim #1: The morning-after pill does NOT cause an abortion.


Web sites that promote the morning-after pill claim that it "will not

an abortion." However, they also state that one way that the morning-after
pill can prevent pregnancy is by inhibiting implantation in the uterus.

fail to say what is inhibited from implanting. It is an embryo, a human in
the earliest stage of life. Embryos contain 23 chromosomes from the mother
and 23 chromosomes from the father - the full genetic information of a
distinct human being. This "inhibition" caused by the morning-after pill
terminates a human life.

Claim #2: The morning-after pill has been adequately tested and is safe

all users.


The FDA declined to approve the morning-after pill to be available
over-the-counter (OTC) because it has not been adequately tested to ensure
that this high level of hormones can be used safely by adolescents, who
constitute a target market for the drug. As the owner of Plan B admits,
there are no data on what occurs in an overdose. This could occur if a

woman decides to take an extra dose when she experiences the common side
effect of vomiting or, in her belief, to increase its effectiveness. It is
currently unknown whether a maximum, safe, daily, monthly, or yearly dose
exists.

Promoters have not conducted the necessary studies, yet claim that it's

proven safe.


Claim #3: The morning-after pill will be used for emergencies only.


Proponents describe "emergency" as any "unprotected intercourse or a known
or suspected contraceptive failure (i.e., a broken condom)." The
morning-after pill is seen as another form of birth control. In fact, the
study that Barr Labs submitted to the FDA found that a full one-third of
women did not know - after being counseled and reading the label - that it
was not to be used as a regular form of birth control. That number

among younger women and those with lower literacy, and does not account

those who do not read English.

This proved true in Jamaica when the morning-after pill was made available
through pharmacists; pharmacists reported that a disturbing number of
schoolgirls were buying the drug, and that a drop in condom sales also
occurred. Doctors in Spain admit that many times, for young people in
particular, the morning-after pill is the principal or only contraceptive
method used. They recorded some women taking the drug as often as seven
times a month.

OTC access means there will be no record of the frequency that a woman

the morning-after pill. She could go to multiple pharmacies to make

purchases of this high-dose birth control. Pharmacists in countries that
have tried this easy-accessibility approach, such as Jamaica, Thailand and
the United Kingdom, have found this to be the case.

Most disturbingly, pharmacists report that schoolgirls buy it multiple
times. This makes sense, considering they would be drawn by the

to keep their activity secret.

Claim #4: The morning-after pill will decrease the number of abortions.


Those depending on the morning-after pill as a contraceptive must take

account that it prevents pregnancy only 75 to 89 percent of the time. If
more women rely on the morning-after pill, particularly as a form of birth
control, the number of failures will increase as well. The final result
appears to be more pregnant women who resort to abortion.

Sound far-fetched? Take for example the countries that have made the
morning-after pill accessible to the public without a prescription. In
Scottish schools, teenage pregnancy among 13- to 15-year-olds rose 10
percent in one year. In 2006, the country reported the highest number of
abortions since abortion was legalized in 1967. In the United Kingdom,
abortion rates increased by 6,000 in one year with the largest leap among
girls younger than 16 years old.

Countries where the morning-after pill is easily accessible have

an increase in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). In the United

specific STDs such as gonorrhea increased by 50 percent in only three

after the morning-after pill was distributed without prescription.

In a four-year period, the number of cases of chlamydia went up 76

Gonorrhea went up 55 percent. Syphilis went up 54 percent. Genital warts
went up 20 percent.

Claim #5: Pharmacists are qualified to distribute the morning-after pill.


Pharmacists cannot conduct medical exams to detect medical conditions.

and liver problems, for example, exclude women from taking oral
contraceptives, which are just low doses of the morning-after pill. The
public setting of a store limits pharmacists' counseling on private

of abuse or personal medical issues, conversations that are especially
crucial in the process of dispensing oral contraceptives to minors. If a
doctor is dispensing federally funded birth control and suspects a case of
statutory rape, he is required by law to report the situation.

OTC availability of the morning-after pill means that women who have not
been counseled or screened for medical conditions, and who may not have
access to a physician in case complications arise, have unlimited access

Plan B.

In the United Kingdom, after the morning-after pill was made accessible
through pharmacists, nurses with the Royal College of Nursing complained
that pharmacists were failing to warn women of possible complications and
failing to carry out routine medical assessments. In addition, many
pharmacists expressed concern over its easy accessibility, claiming that
young girls were requesting the pill multiple times and were easily able

hide their consumption of this drug from their physicians.

Claim #6: Easy access to the morning-after pill will benefit women.


Although supporters of the morning-after pill claim to have women's best
interests at heart, easy access to Plan B can actually be used to exploit
women and could endanger their health. If the morning-after pill is
available OTC, anyone could buy it and slip it to a woman without her
knowledge. A woman who may want to be pregnant could become the victim of

man who does not want her to have a child.

OTC access of the morning-after pill could potentially harm young girls in
particular. Interaction with a physician is crucial to discovering STDs

could lead to infertility or cancer, and intervening to rescue girls who

being sexually abused.

As the age of a sexually active girl decreases, the chance that her first
sex was unwanted or involuntary increases. Teenage girls make up the

percent of the population that has experienced rising abortion and STD

in conjunction with nonprescription access to Plan B.


Easy access to Plan B would enable statutory rapists, adult men who are
having sex with minors, to have unhindered access to the pill to cover up
their crime.

Claim #7: Women need immediate access to the morning-after pill.


Making the morning-after pill available OTC means it will be available to
the entire public, including adolescents and women with contrary medical
conditions. Yet advocates are arguing that these women should be put at

to accommodate women who demand not only quick access to the drug, but

no questions asked by medical professionals.

Claim #7: The FDA and those who oppose easy access to the morning-after

are putting politics and an "anti-choice" agenda ahead of science.


The FDA declined to make the morning-after pill OTC due to a lack of
adequate testing of the pill, and common-sense concern about the
consequences.


The morning-after pill is a high dose of the birth control pill. Let's
re-emphasize that fact: The morning-after pill Plan B is the birth control
pill, except that it is stronger, equal to 25 regular birth-control pills.

The FDA has never approved a medicine as OTC when a lower dose of the same
drug requires a prescription.


Another medication, RU-486, also known as the abortion pill, terminates an
unborn child's life in the first trimester. It is associated with six
women's deaths in the United States and is different from the

pill. However, abortion advocates have conducted tests using RU-486 as a
morning-after pill. If the morning-after pill were approved to be

OTC, it could open the door for consideration of OTC access to RU-486.

Easy access to the morning-after pill has become a political substitute

the abortion debate. As abortion advocates have lost elections,

and public opinion, they have diverted attention to the morning-after

Yet as the evidence shows, easy access does not live up to their promises.

Women should not have to pay the price of STDs, abortion and abuse so that
abortion advocates can score a political victory.

http://www.cwfa.org/articles/11112/CWA/life/index.htm



On May 6, 2004, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) declined to make the
morning-after pill, also known as Plan B, available over-the-counter (OTC)
without a prescription. Proponents of the morning-after pill fought back,
alleging that "politics trumped science." But do their claims stand up to
scrutiny?


Claim #1: The morning-after pill does NOT cause an abortion.


Web sites that promote the morning-after pill claim that it "will not cause
an abortion." However, they also state that one way that the morning-after
pill can prevent pregnancy

http://www.cwfa.org/articles/11112/CWA/life/index.htm
Sound far-fetched? Take for example the countries that have made the
morning-after pill accessible to the public without a prescription. In
Scottish schools, teenage pregnancy among 13- to 15-year-olds rose 10
percent in one year. In 2006, the country reported the highest number of
abortions since abortion was legalized in 1967. In the United Kingdom,
abortion rates increased by 6,000 in one year with the largest leap among
girls younger than 16 years old.

Countries where the morning-after pill is easily accessible have experienced
an increase in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). In the United Kingdom,
specific STDs such as gonorrhea increased by 50 percent in only three years
after the morning-after pill was distributed without prescription.

In a four-year period, the number of cases of chlamydia went up 76 percent.
Gonorrhea went up 55 percent. Syphilis went up 54 percent. Genital warts
went up 20 percent.


Claim #5: Pharmacists are qualified to distribute the morning-after pill.

Pharmacists cannot conduct medical exams to detect medical conditions. Heart
and liver problems, for example, exclude women from taking oral
contraceptives, which are just low doses of the morning-after pill. The
public setting of a store limits pharmacists' counseling on private matters
of abuse or personal medical issues, conversations that are especially
crucial in the process of dispensing oral contraceptives to minors.