Score One (More) For The Fundamentalists
The FDA rules against permitting over-the-counter sales of the morning-after birth control pill, "citing concern about young teenagers use of the pill," according to an AP report. What a bunch of crap. Do we not allow alcohol to be sold to adults who want to drink it because alcoholics might get their hands on it and get tanked?
Here's my previous blog item on the topic, noting that they're sold in France, and the country doesn't seem to be falling apart because of it. No, the French are pretty smart about sex and relationships. It's the preoccupation with the (clearly) failed commie thing that's making France a mess.
If you're an American woman, and happen to be in Paris, go to a pharmacy there and ask for pilules de lendemain (morning-after pills). Buy a bunch. I think they're about 11 euros. The pharmacist will be concerned that you're using them as frequent birth control instead of as an occasional emergency measure, but just explain: "Ces sont cadeaux, actuellement. J'habite aux Štats Unis, et c'est trËs Puritanique la, donc je les donnerai ý toutes mes amies!" (These are gifts, actually. I live in the United States, which is very Puritanical, so I'm giving these to all my friends!)
MORE: From National Women's Law Center:
As NWLCís report (in PDF) Slip-Sliding Away: The Erosion of Hard-Won Gains for Women Under the Bush Administration and an Agenda for Looking Forward, explains, under this Administration, the National Cancer Institute has distorted the science on whether abortion can cause breast cancer, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention replaced a comprehensive online fact sheet about condoms with one lacking crucial information on condom use and a diversity of viewpoints has been eliminated on the Presidentís Council on Bioethics.
A vote for Bush is a vote against science. Just hope you don't come down with a disease that might be alleviated through stem cell research.
If regular birth control pills were available over the counter, teenage girls might not be tempted to abuse the morning-after pill. But of course Bush and his buddies are much too busy using government time and money trying to stop young people from having sex (like trying to stop the rain from falling) to do anything that might reduce the teen pregnancy rate.
Lydia Prior at May 7, 2004 9:37 AM
>Do we not allow alcohol to be sold to adults who want to drink it because alcoholics might get their hands on it and get tanked?
Well, yes, but bars are required to do an ID check for under-21. Drugstores have never done this. That said, I'm fairly sure there are other OTC medicines currently sold that are in adult doses or designed for adults.
Ron at May 7, 2004 9:40 AM
"The pharmacist will be concerned that you're using them as frequent birth control instead of as an occasional emergency measure, but just explain"
Unfortunately, Amy, a lot of folks in this country seem to have a hard time talking about sex -- as an matter of health or pleasure -- without acting like red-faced tittering sixth graders. And FDA regulatory policy isn't going to do much to change that.
Lena at May 7, 2004 10:17 AM
The people who claim to want to stop abortion clearly don't. They're more concerned about foisting their "morality" on the rest of us. Abortion would be stopped by giving everybody information about and access to birth control...and not just the morning after pill. It's been shown (through studies linked her before -- I'm not going to go digging for them now) that kids who are shoveled the abstinence only shit wait a little longer to have sex -- but when they do, are unprepared to protect themselves...thus putting themselves (and the rest of the population) at risk for diseases, and putting themselves at risk for being teenage parents. This is one more way this country is being turned into a theocracy. Vote for Kerry, please. I loathe the guy, but in four more years, there's some chance you'll be chained to a pew if you don't.
Amy Alkon at May 8, 2004 6:12 PM