On Feb. 13, the Food and Drug Administration delayed its decision to consider allowing emergency contraceptives such as the morning-after pill to be sold over-the-counter. The FDA wanted to spend 90 days analyzing the pill's effectiveness, safety and usefulness, especially among teens, before giving its go-ahead.
It's necessary to be cautious, but the administration will find that studies have proved the pills can reduce the chance of pregnancy by nearly 89 percent. According to a report on MSNBC.com, medical groups like the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) claim emergency contraception is safe and effective. David Grimes, physician for Family Health International, doesn't see a medical reason to refuse women the morning-after pill. And, to ease the minds of pro-lifers, advocates of emergency contraception claim the pills could prevent millions of abortions.
But, as always, there's a fuss.
Those who define fertilization as "the beginning of life" compare emergency contraceptive measures to abortion.
And other opponents believe selling the pills over-the-counter will lead to promiscuity, rampant unprotected sex and greater transmission of sexual diseases. The charges are that women will ignore condoms and other forms of contraception, as well as the consequences of sex, when they can take a pill the next morning that erases any damage.
But Grimes said these attitudes are "patronizing."
"The assumption is, if women have easy access to emergency contraception, they'll run wild in the streets," he said.
Like abstinence-only sex education, limiting over-the-counter sale of morning-after pills might be morally satisfying. But neither is a matter of should or shouldn't. Not anymore. They're both matters of reality, because we have to understand that a lot of people like to have sex. And we have to understand that a lot of people are going to have sex; no amount of urging, finger-shaking or tutting is going to change that. So restricting and withholding information or technology only makes these matters worse.
Consider that every year nearly 50 percent of the 6.3 million pregnancies in the United States are unintended. The ACOG stated that using emergency contraception -- in addition to traditional contraceptives -- could reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies by half.
In 1998, the New England Journal of Medicine claimed that 98 percent of participants used the morning-after pill correctly. And an as-yet-unpublished study from the University of Pittsburgh claims that women are more likely to use emergency contraceptives if they have access to them. At the same time, the study found women's normal contraceptive and sexual behaviors didn't change, even though they had access to emergency contraceptives.
Still, the Kaiser Family Foundation found that only 43 percent of women know that emergency contraception is available in the U.S. In December, the FDA reported that drug manufacturers haven't publicized morning-after pills, and pharmacies don't often stock them.
This has to change. The morning-after pill can be a lot of things. It can serve as reassurance. It can serve to rectify the occasional failings in condoms and other contraceptives. And, it can -- and will -- serve to eliminate mistakes or errors in judgment. But that's life, because like traditional contraception, humans aren't perfect.
The morning-after pill isn't either, but it is another option the sexually active can decide to use. If the FDA decides to limit that option, it will have made the wrong decision.
Write to Allyn at aswest@bsu.edu
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