The Morning-After Pill Should Be Available to All Ages

[xchrom]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-05-02/the-morning-after-pill-should-be-available-to-all-ages.html

At what age should girls be allowed to buy the “morning after” pill on their own? The answer, it seems, depends on whether the question is framed by scientific principle or by individual moral perspectives.

After reviewing research and consulting scientific advisers, the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research concluded in 2011 that the most common form of over-the-counter emergency contraception, Plan B One-Step, can be used to prevent pregnancy safely and effectively by girls of any age.

The White House, by contrast, originally proposed, in late 2011, that only girls 17 and older should have over-the-counter access. This week, the Obama administration offered a new limit: age 15. Presumably the White House’s position is based on the notion that girls any younger lack the maturity to use the drug without a doctor’s prescription. No one has explained, however, why maturity should factor in a decision that a girl younger than 15 might nevertheless face, perhaps through no fault of her own. Indeed, by proposing two different age restrictions within the space of a year and a half, the administration only demonstrates how arbitrary both are.

In their evaluation, experts at the Center for Drug Evaluation and Research -- including obstetrician-gynecologists and pediatricians -- determined that adolescent girls understand that emergency contraception isn’t to be used routinely. If there is cause to think those experts are wrong or that there is some other measure of maturity that applies for emergency contraception, we haven’t been told of it. The rationale President Barack Obama offered for the age-17 limit was, “I think most parents would probably feel the same way.”

[winter is coming]

1. +1. We need more evidence-based policy making and less rhetoric. n/t

[Robyn66]

2. No, GUNS

should be available to people of all ages, control of your body belongs to the government!

[Cerridwen]

3. Not "mature" enough to "use the drug" but are "mature" enough to

take adequate care of themselves and their pregnancy and the financial and emotional aspects. Then, of course, they are mature enough to financially and emotionally provide for an infant.

Apparently, drugs are tougher to handle than children. Who knew?

[CrispyQ]

4. +1!!!

[meow2u3]

5. I have concerns about the side effects of Plan B

Since it's a synthetic hormone, girls (on average) between 11 and 14 are undergoing the hormonal surges of puberty. Chances are there are side effects that aren't there in girls 15 and older.

[randome]

6. I wonder if some girls, ill-informed, might start taking it before they even need it.

Thinking it serves the same purpose as a condom.

[meow2u3]

7. That's my point.

eom