I have read a lot of views on the newly dropped bombshell that is the FDA ruling on Plan B as an over the counter drug. I think maybe I am in the minority here, and I am willing to take the fire that comes with that status.
For the record, I am a man so I don’t have a direct investment into what happens to my body with the Plan B pill. However, I do realize that if I were in a situation where my partner needed to use Plan B pill that I would support it. So what the hell makes me in the minority camp?
When the news dropped that the FDA would not allow females (I use females here to distinguish the difference between women and girls) who are 16 years or younger to gain access to the Plan B pill over the counter I was not shocked in the least. Seemed pretty damn reasonable to me. Apparently, I was wrong. Dead wrong. I immediately felt like my viewpoint was clearly wrong since all, or most, of the ideological brethren were on the opposite side of the issue. Then I begin to really examine my points on why I felt the law was just and understand their arguments. I came to realize that its not such a black and white issue and we both wanted the same goals but the path to them were very different.
Hearing things like “there’s no science showing that Plan B is harmful to underage girls. It’s just birth control & teens need access” seemed solid in logic. However, I don’t agree. My main argument against this reason is look at the history of women’s birth control, i.e. - the pill. As it ushered in an unprecedented force in the woman’s movement and the sexual revolution; it had its problems too. The cheers of the pill’s ability to make decisions about child birth a true women’s issue (i.e. - they controlled their fertility) was nothing short of amazing. Science, making things happen!!! However, there is a dark cloud to that story. Even now, there are tons of testimonials from women who suffer from non functional libidos due to the pills hormones. Non-hormonal IUDs are now very popular for that reason. The pill, originally designed to help regulate a woman’s fertility, was now causing women serious side effects, some of which were irreversible. So lets fast forward and get back to Plan B.
As I said before, I am all for Plan B for women. I think its a great option for those moments (hopefully rare) that traditional birth control or clear heads fail. Also, the sentiment that it can prevent the possibility of a child being conceived from rape is one I 100% agree with. The issue for me is we don’t really know what would happen to young girls who may take this pill numerous times while they are still developing. Just like the birth control pill now, we are still battling back and forth about its LONG TERM EFFECTS. This is what matters to me. If we find that sterility, for example, happens what do we tell a generation of women then? As Condi Rice was famously said, “who could have seen that one coming?” So the cautious approach of 16 or younger girls have to get someone else to get it for them is in my opinion reasonable. The law says nothing about parents permission. Maybe I am crazy.
In the pursuit of progress we are to busy wondering if we could do it that we never stopped to think if we should do it.
I don’t have the world view that kids aren’t going to have sex, that’s silly and short sighted. However, I do live in a world where long term effects take time and maybe, just maybe we should slow down to make sure things are OK for kids. We didn’t do this for psychotropic drugs either and look where we are. The idea that science has never had to go back and update its findings is ludicrous.
Obvious Note of the Day: Adults and children react very differently to drugs over time! Just saying.
What do you think? Am I way off base here?
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