Birth Control Leads To Teen Sex Cults!
The ridiculous fundanutter idiots at the FDA are at it again, Kathleen Kerr reports in Newsday. They're contending that "Plan B," aka the "morning after" pill, might cause rampant teen promiscuity -- something it has yet to do anyplace else it's permitted:
In the memo released by the FDA, Dr. Curtis Rosebraugh, an agency medical officer, wrote: "As an example, she [Woodcock] stated that we could not anticipate, or prevent extreme promiscuous behaviors such as the medication taking on an 'urban legend' status that would lead adolescents to form sex-based cults centered around the use of Plan B."Rosebraugh indicated he found no reason to bar nonprescription sales of Plan B.
"This was the level of scientific discourse," Heller said in an interview, referring to concerns attributed to Woodcock. "I find it very odd that these people who are supposed to be responsible scientists and doctors are making up wacky reasons."
via Consumerist
I'm opposed to abortion pills because I don't know where the line is between infanticide and simply inducing a period. Because I think that it might be infanticide, I err on the side of opposition. I may change my mind on this if I ever research the process by which these drugs work, or if I ever have to make a personal decision.
Having said that the argument about teenagers having access to contraception strikes me as quite a different issue. I think that is about the age of consent and parental responsibility. On the one hand there is the legal presumption that any girl who is underage who has sex is the victim of a statutory rape, in which case it is absolutely the duty of parents or guardians to know about it and help the child. On the other hand teenagers are a lot less immature than the law (in the USA and the UK, but not Japan or the Netherlands) assumes.
I know people who are in favour of abortion, but against giving contraceptives to underage teens without parental notification. As parents they want to keep track of the situation, not necessarily restrict it. So although the Plan B issue looks like political pandering to the anti-abortion lobbyists, I don't see that it necessarily follows.
Antoine Clarke at April 29, 2006 6:11 AM
Plan B is not an abortion pill. It is birth control, and works the same was as birth control pills do, by preventing release of an egg.
And this idiocy with the idea that if you make birth control more accessible to teens it will just lead to promiscuity is just more of the same Puritanical paranoia. They used to say the same thing about jazz music back in the 20's.
deja pseu at April 29, 2006 6:45 AM
They were right about jazz.
Crid at April 29, 2006 7:01 AM
No Crid, jazz just made promiscuity better.
may at April 29, 2006 11:48 AM
If I remember correctly, Plan B works by keeping the possible fertilized egg from attaching to the wall of the uterus. This happens to about half of all potential pregnanceis even without pharmecutical interference. (And it's been a while since I've looked at the issue so please correct me if I'm wrong - not that the contributors of this forum ever show a reluctance to point out error *grin*). If a teenage girls are having sex, they should be on the pill, they should have access to Plan B (which only works 72 hours after intercourse if I remember correctly). Condoms break - if they're used at all. The pill isn't infallible and it can be missed.
That being said, I have big qualms about making it available without prescription. Especially to teenage girls. Many medications aren't reliably tested for children and can have severe side effects. (Prozac actually causes suicidal thoughts in children and teens.) I will have big problems with an OTC Plan B without a better idea of how it affects young minds and bodies.
And jazz is too intellectual for promiscuity, give me Elvis and his shaking hips any day.
LXV at May 4, 2006 12:15 AM
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