Over-the-counter 'morning-after' pill.
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| Wed, 12-17-2003 - 10:27am |
Over-the-counter or Rx?
http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/12/16/morning.after.pill/index.html
Advisers to the Food and Drug Administration voted Tuesday to recommend emergency contraception -- or the "morning-after" pill -- be available over-the-counter.
The FDA generally follows the recommendations of its advisory committees but it is not known when the agency will act on the recommendation.
The makers of Plan B contraception say that when it is taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, it can reduce the risk of pregnancy by about 89 percent.
Plan B, made by Women's Capital Corp., has been available since 1998, but only with a doctor's prescription.
"Putting safe, effective back-up birth control on the drug store shelves next to condoms will give many more women a second chance to prevent pregnancy," said Kirsten Moore, head of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project, a group backing no-prescription emergency contraception.
Supporters also say making Plan B over-the-counter would give women easier access to emergency contraceptives on weekends and nights, when doctor's offices are closed, reducing the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions in the United States.
Those against making Plan B -- or any other emergency contraception -- available without a prescription argue some women will substitute emergency contraception for regular birth control and point to potential health concerns.
Plan B contains a high dose of a hormone found in traditional birth control pills which can cause blood clots in certain people.
"If this is over-the-counter, it will be a high dose of this drug," said Wendy Wright of the Concerned Women for America, a public policy organization. "So it's likely to cause all kinds of unknown problems, and women are more likely to use it repeatedly."
Those who want the drug available over-the-counter disagree.
"All of the evidence indicates that women use emergency contraception very responsibly," said Planned Parenthood's Gloria Feldt. " all of the studies have shown so far, that the fact that they have emergency contraception does not mean that they use it regularly."
Opponents also argue that "morning-after" pills are just a form of abortion.
Mayo Clinic: Emergency contraceptives prevent pregnancies.
Plan B works by keeping a fertilized egg from implanting in the wall of the uterus. If the egg is already attached to the uterine wall -- which happens from seven to nine days after the egg is fertilized -- Plan B will not have any effect.
This is in contrast to the so-called abortion pill, mifepristone or RU-486. Emergency contraceptives prevent pregnancies from forming, while the abortion pill terminates the developing fertilized egg attached to the uterine wall, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Although emergency contraceptive pills have been around for more than 25 years, it was not until the late 1990s that two dedicated pills, Plan B and Preven, came onto the U.S. market, by prescription only. Prior to that, doctors prescribed a little-known regimen of several birth control pills to serve as emergency contraception.
Similar products to Plan B are available over-the-counter in more than 30 countries, including France and the United Kingdom.
Tuesday's debate included arguments from both sides, as well as results from a Plan B study on 585 women in five states. Comments from the public were also solicited.
According to a survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, only 6 percent of women say they have ever used emergency contraception.
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Opponents also argue that "morning-after" pills are just a form of abortion.
They probably say the same thing about birth control pills.