This week marks the first anniversary of the end of a three-year long fight to get Plan B, aka the morning-after pill, approved by the FDA for over-the-counter distribution. Sales, now that a prescription is no longer needed, have doubled, far exceeding expectations even by the pill's manufacturer.
Pro-lifers, ever fearful of unfettered sexuality, are worrying that this must be indicative of increasingly wanton promiscuity amongst our country's fairer half. I've always wondered, though, why these people assume that we're having more sex rather than fewer unwanted pregnancies. According to an oldish article from Family Planning Perspectives, 48% of the pregnancies ending in 1994 were unintended. Forty-eight percent. The American Pregnancy Association claims that this rate is actually a mere 47%. The CDC claims similar numbers for 2001. Either way, these numbers are astounding to me, and it seems inconceivable (no pun intended) that there are people who somehow believe that providing alternative methods of contraception is a bad thing.
One thing that struck me as odd about today's Plan B article was the specific mention of the fact that both men and women over the age of 18 are able to purchase it. I'm not sure why this jumped out at me. I mean, I obviously believe that anyone, gender-wise, should be able to buy condoms, so why shouldn't everyone, gender-wise, get to buy the morning after pill? Maybe it's the age thing, and the fact that women (and presumably men) will get carded when trying to buy the pill. There's a certain sense of the ridiculous in carding a man for such a pill, given that he will of course never use it. And given that presumably pharmacists are not going to start brow-beating their customers, they will never know for sure that the over-18 man is purchasing the pill for an over-18 woman. So there's this disconnect for me, in that clearly society isn't really enforcing the over-18 thing for girls (nor should it be, in my ever humble opinion), since they can just get someone older to buy it for them, and yet clearly there's no medical reason to prevent younger men from having access. It seems like a cop-out to the religious right, given that most younger women can get around the age limit, and given that many doctors don't think it's dangerous for younger women anyway. Just out of curiosity, are there any age restrictions on condoms?
Anyway, I've been pondering this today, and yet it occurs to me that really, how many guys have been traipsing on in to Rite Aid to buy Plan B anyway? I mean, it's taken decades for us girls to feel comfortable buying condoms, and there's a world of difference, for many of us at least, between the rather minor embarrassment of admitting one is hoping to get laid and the shame of admitting that one has not only already gotten laid, but screwed it up and now needs to take preventative measures. So to speak.
Pro-lifers, ever fearful of unfettered sexuality, are worrying that this must be indicative of increasingly wanton promiscuity amongst our country's fairer half. I've always wondered, though, why these people assume that we're having more sex rather than fewer unwanted pregnancies. According to an oldish article from Family Planning Perspectives, 48% of the pregnancies ending in 1994 were unintended. Forty-eight percent. The American Pregnancy Association claims that this rate is actually a mere 47%. The CDC claims similar numbers for 2001. Either way, these numbers are astounding to me, and it seems inconceivable (no pun intended) that there are people who somehow believe that providing alternative methods of contraception is a bad thing.
One thing that struck me as odd about today's Plan B article was the specific mention of the fact that both men and women over the age of 18 are able to purchase it. I'm not sure why this jumped out at me. I mean, I obviously believe that anyone, gender-wise, should be able to buy condoms, so why shouldn't everyone, gender-wise, get to buy the morning after pill? Maybe it's the age thing, and the fact that women (and presumably men) will get carded when trying to buy the pill. There's a certain sense of the ridiculous in carding a man for such a pill, given that he will of course never use it. And given that presumably pharmacists are not going to start brow-beating their customers, they will never know for sure that the over-18 man is purchasing the pill for an over-18 woman. So there's this disconnect for me, in that clearly society isn't really enforcing the over-18 thing for girls (nor should it be, in my ever humble opinion), since they can just get someone older to buy it for them, and yet clearly there's no medical reason to prevent younger men from having access. It seems like a cop-out to the religious right, given that most younger women can get around the age limit, and given that many doctors don't think it's dangerous for younger women anyway. Just out of curiosity, are there any age restrictions on condoms?
Anyway, I've been pondering this today, and yet it occurs to me that really, how many guys have been traipsing on in to Rite Aid to buy Plan B anyway? I mean, it's taken decades for us girls to feel comfortable buying condoms, and there's a world of difference, for many of us at least, between the rather minor embarrassment of admitting one is hoping to get laid and the shame of admitting that one has not only already gotten laid, but screwed it up and now needs to take preventative measures. So to speak.
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