From
AP:
Every patient given the acne drug Accutane must be enrolled in a national registry as part of major new steps to prevent pregnancy among women using the birth defect-causing medicine, government advisers said Friday.
The registry system would mandate that women cannot get their monthly supply of Accutane without a negative pregnancy test, and that they be told to use two forms of contraception while taking the drug.
OK, call me crazy, but shit like this scares the crap out of me. Women having to prove they're not pregnant before being allowed to take acne medication?
Maybe that by itself doesn't sound so bad. But think about all the other things we know cause problems during pregnancy - alcohol, tobacco, not enough folic acid, stress...
Maybe I should just wear an armband stating the date of my last pregnancy test and the method of contraception I use so that the government can make sure no one lets me have any of those things when I might be pregnant, too. And if I do somehow get ahold of them, maybe I should be charged with a crime if I miscarry - or even if I don't, for reckless endangerment.
Hell, lets require genetic workups while we're at it - after all, many birth defects are congenital. Maybe the government can slap us all in chastity belts that can only be unlocked by people with compatible, non-defect-likely genes. Or, since "everyone knows" that out-of-wedlock children are doomed to a horrible end, let's make sure that they only unlock for our spouses, on top of that.
Maybe you'll all think I'm overreacting, but I think this is major government overreach, and the first step on a very slippery slope. Women should not be 'pregnant until proven innocent', required to live their lives in the best interest of not just actual but hypothetical pregnancies.