Before the end of the year, a prescription will no longer be necessary to purchase Plan B, an emergency-contraceptive pill that could prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of sexual intercourse.
On Aug. 24, the Food and Drug Administration approved over-the-counter sales of the pill, which will be available at pharmacies and health clinics to those 18 and older. For anyone younger than 18, a prescription is still required.
Nancy Harris, coordinator of women’s health and a nurse practitioner at University Student Health Services, said the clinic doesn’t know how they will handle this new development.
“We still have students under 18,” Harris said. “We need to find some kind of system to show they are 18. A lot of things have to be settled.”
Plan B, a product of Barr Pharmaceuticals, Inc., prevents ovulation or fertilization with large doses of progestin that enter the body. If a woman is already pregnant, the pill does not cause an abortion.
The pill costs $15 and will only change if its contracted price with Barr Laboratories changes, Harris said.
“The biggest disadvantage is I’m afraid we’ll lose a teaching opportunity,” Harris added. Before, if a student came in for EC, a nurse spoke to her about birth-control methods and offered to start her on birth control on her next menstruation.
“It’s a missed opportunity,” she said.
“Studies show women will not be having unprotected sex if emergency contraception is available.”
-Nancy Harris, nurse practitioner
The FDA’s decision took time, petitions, meetings and countless heated conversations since Dec. 16, 2003, when the FDA advisory committee voted to suggest the sale of EC over the counter. Since then, legislators, various organizations and the American public have debated this controversial move.
The FDA called Plan B “the safest product that we have seen brought before us.” But some groups remain wary. Many believe such easy access to the pill will only result in sexual promiscuity among adolescents.
Cherry Sancho, a marketing and business major, said the age limit to purchase the pill should be raised.
“When they say free contraception, it’s like free sex for everyone,” she said.
Chris Freund, director of policy and communications for the Richmond-based Family Foundation, said he was not surprised with the FDA’s decision.
“It was clear for quite some time that the FDA would bow to political pressure,” Freund said.
The government, he added, sent a message “that they are more interested in politics than protecting the health of Americans” with their approval. Freund said he believes such easy access could encourage unhealthy sexual behavior, date rape and illegal activity such as purchasing pills for minors.
Emergency contraception is “clearly an abortion,” he said, since it prevents the implantation of a fertilized egg.
But Freund only represents one side.
Amanda Burton, a junior religious studies major, said she supports over-the-counter sales of the pill.
“I’m totally for it,” she said. “I still think we need to fight for it because it’s only 18 and up, and accidents happen when you’re young. It’s 16 and up in other countries, so why is America so behind?”
KNOW THE FACTS
- Plan B is most effective taken within 24 hours.
- After 72 hours it is 89 percent effective.
- Plan B is not RU-486 (the abortion pill).
- If you are pregnant it will not cause an abortion.
- Some side effects may include nausea, abdominal pain, fatigue, headache, menstrual changes, dizziness, breast tenderness and vomiting.
- Plan B consists of two tablets (VCU suggests taking both at the same time.)
- It does not protect against HIV or sexually transmitted infections.
www.go2planb.com
Sara Duke, President of Voices for Planned Parenthood, said, “There have been studies proven and done that show access to emergency contraception does not increase promiscuity.”
In Spring 2006, the Office of Health Promotion and University Student Health Services found 68 percent of VCU undergraduates had 0-to-1 sex partners in the last year.
In 2004, there were 437 prescriptions written for Plan B at VCU.
“That’s a very small percentage of prescriptions overall,” said Harris, who has been at VCU for more than seven years and has seen no sign of abuse of the pill.
When it comes to promiscuity, Harris said she agrees with Duke.
“This is a chemical abortion. It has no moral distinction from a surgical abortion.”
-The Family Foundation
“Studies show women will not be having unprotected sex if EC is available,” Harris said. “It’s a legal medicine. It’s safe. Nobody ever says anything about having Tylenol, and Tylenol can be deadly.”
According to Planned Parenthood, experts predict it could prevent up to 1.5 million unintended pregnancies. Fifty percent of women between ages 18 and 50 will have an abortion in their lifetime. Women have 800,000 abortions a year, and half of all pregnancies are unplanned.
“That isn’t talked about,” Duke said.
Even though President Bush confirmed his support in a briefing on Monday, his own supporters could restrict the legislation, which Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-New York, called “a victory for women’s health.”
Duke, however, has a different point of view.
“It is a political move,” she said. “Seeing his numbers have dropped, I see it strictly as a Republican strategy.”
E.J. White, a moderate-conservative political science major, agreed.
“It’s an election-year ploy to get votes,” he said.
Though the FDA approved national over-the-counter sales to adults, Virginia has the power to restrict approval. A Virginia legislator must introduce legislation within the state for the General Assembly to approve.
In 2005, Delegate Robert G. Marshall, R-Manassas, proposed House Bill 1813 aiming to pull state support from public college campuses prescribing EC. Planned Parenthood of Virginia fought against the legislation and developed billboards that read, “Think Virginia Won’t Take Away Your Birth Control? THINK AGAIN!” The bill died in a House of Delegates subcommittee.
Freund said the Family Foundation is making plans to counter the legislation.
“We plan to work with legislators and our medical resource council, a team of doctors and health care workers, to determine what legislative remedies are possible,” he said.
As for the ongoing debate about whether increased availability of EC encourages sexual promiscuity, Harris said, “There’s always a small population who will abuse EC. It’s the same for abortions. But the rest of the population shouldn’t be penalized. I truly don’t think it will be abused and misused. It’s for those accidents-we’re only human.”