Ever Used Plan B?
Y'all might or might not remember that my first post for this site was about Plan B. Plan B is birth control, not an abortifacient (if you have any doubts, go read that post), it's a fucking lifesaver if you've ever had a condom break, gotten lazy with the birth control, or (god forbid) been raped, and basically it belongs in your medicine cabinet.
Light Rail Coyote is an admirable grad student who somehow also works for the Academy for Educational Development and is therefore a better model for engaged academia than yours truly ever has been. In any case, she wrote me to ask if I'd ask you all to please take a brief survey about your use of Plan B if you've used it in the last year and are between the ages of 18-44.
Needless to say, the survey is entirely confidential. You can skip questions you don't want to answer, or if none of the available options is correct. (And there's a comments section towards the end.)
A little more about the AED and the survey itself:
AED, a nonprofit organization, is conducting an anonymous, on-line
survey of women in the U.S., ages 18-44 years, who took Plan B after
January 2007. This consumer survey will help us learn more about
women's experiences getting and taking Plan B. The results will be
used to help make the medication more accessible to women who need it.
Plus when you're done you can enter a drawing to win a $150 Target gift certificate.
(By the way, if you have a Target card and haven't signed up to have them give X% of your purchases to some local school, please do. If you don't have a kid, just pick a random school, preferably the poorest one in town.)
You're welcome, of course, to also post the survey link on your own blog, along with a handy-dandy little button, which is available here. The survey runs through March 31, 2008.
Bitch_PhD reminds everyone to keep Plan B in their medicine cabinet--just in case.
ABC for Plan B
It's about time. On Wednesday, Republican representative from Connecticut, Christopher Shays and Democratic senator Frank Lautenberg from New Jersey introduced the Access to Birth Control Act, legislation to require pharmacists to stock Plan B if they supply any form of contraception.
The bill, authored by Rep. Carolyn Maloney, D-N.Y., would make it illegal for a pharmacy to refuse to fill birth control prescriptions and require pharmacies to help, not hinder, a woman's ability to access contraception.
You can get a .pdf of the proposed legislation at the bottom of this page. For facts about pharmacy refusals and state laws, see Planned Parenthood's site. For arguments against Plan B, see here. Here's where you can contact your senator or representative and tell them to support the bill.
Bitch_PhD happens to know where you can get Plan B t-shirts, if you're so inclined.
Cross-posted at Bitch PhD.
Standing Up to The Man
In the comments to my Plan B post last week, a blessedly naive reader from the UK asked, "so what" if Plan B was an abortifacient?
Well, this is so what. Plan B's legal over-the-counter for anyone over 18, it's Wal-Mart policy to stock it, and it's also Wal-Mart policy that if a pharmacist has a problem dispensing it, they can get someone else at the pharmacy counter to do so for them.
Nonetheless, some butthead in Springfield Ohio refused to give it to Tashina Byrd and her boyfriend, and the pharmacy counter attendant and store management wouldn't do so either. Why? Simple! The idiot pharmacist "believes in preserving life, and I do not believe in ending life, and life begins at conception."
The fact that Plan B prevents conception is apparently something he didn't learn in pharmacy school. Apparently 90% of young women between 15-24 know more than some pharmacists.
You can tell Wal-Mart to hire better-trained pharmacists here, if you're so inclined.
And really, who doesn't like to bitch at Wal-Mart?
Bitch_PhD's degree isn't in pharmacology, but she does know how to read.
FDA Goes to Plan B
Pending an absurdly long reviewing process for a drug that essentially has been on the market for years (in the form of taking several birth control pills at once,) the "morning after pill," Plan B, had finally been approved by the FDA for over the counter sales - but only for those over 18.
The Food and Drug Administration approved an application today making the long-debated emergency contraceptive Plan B, commonly known as the "morning-after pill," available without a prescription to women 18 and older.
The FDA said Barr Laboratories, the maker of Plan B, could begin selling the drug, but only at pharmacies and health clinics. Women purchasing the drug will have to show proof of age.
While this is great news, once again the Luddites are at it, and they fought tooth and nail to keep this from happening. Fortunately to no avail.
Many social conservatives in and out of Congress have battled to keep the drug from becoming available without a prescription. Some say that could encourage promiscuity, and others say use of the pill causes a very early abortion. Their position had for almost three years trumped an overwhelming medical and scientific consensus that the drug could be safely dispensed by a pharmacist without a prescription.
[...]
The group Concerned Women for America has led the opposition to wider availability of Plan B, and its president, Wendy Wright, criticized the administration last week for its apparent change of position. She called for von Eschenbach's nomination to be withdrawn, citing his "pandering to political activists and a drug company."
"The FDA would be overstepping its precedent and authority to make Plan B available nonprescription," Wright said on the organization's Web site. "It defies common sense to allow easy access to a high-dose drug, based on the age of the person who buys it, when a low dose for anyone . . . requires medical oversight."
Feigning "concern" for young woman is a nice way of making it seem like these groups actually want to do something besides stick their noses into people's bedrooms and force them to live their lives according to some outdated, twisted interpretation of Christianity. The real irony here is that these are the very same groups who vehemently oppose abortion - and increasing the availability of Plan B means fewer abortions because of fewer unwanted pregnancies. They can't even make the argument that because "life begins at conception" that this pill somehow causes an abortion because it prevents fertilization from ever happening, though it's not stopping some of them from doing just that.
So a victory for progressives, and one that should be noted was significantly aided by Hillary Clinton, despite her love/hate relationship with many liberals.
FDA Considering Approval of the Morning After Pill
The FDA says it's moving closer to approving Plan B for over-the-counter use. The announcement came as a surprise, as the approval process has been bogged down by controversy for years.
Some conservatives say easy access to Plan B will be the gateway leading to slutty sin, while many religious folks call it a form of abortion.
In a statement, acting FDA commissioner Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach said discussions between the government and the drug's manufacturers could be completed in weeks.
However, the change of heart has some Democrats suspicious. Von Eschenbach is President Bush's nominee to head the FDA. Confirmation hearings begin Tuesday.
Two committee Democrats, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York and Patty Murray of Washington, called today's FDA letter a "delay tactic" and promised to continue blocking von Eschenbach's nomination until the FDA actually approves over-the-counter sales of Plan B.
"Rather than moving this process forward and doing right by the American people," the two senators said in a joint statement, "the administration is continuing to play a game of smoke and mirrors."
The battle over Plan B has jeopardized von Eschenbach's confirmation at a time when many believe the agency needs permanent leadership to keep up with scientific developments and to resolve questions about its oversight of prescription safety. The FDA has been considering Plan B's fate since 2003.
Even if approved, most likely Plan B would be available without prescription only to women over 18 years old.
The drug maker's ad