Just when one might think our culture can’t degrade much further, a federal district judge in New York has given the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) 30 days to lift all age and sale restrictions on over-the-counter (OTC) access to Plan B, the so-called "emergency contraceptive" drug and its generic versions.
The ruling reverses a December 2011 decision by the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services to disallow OTC access to Plan B by teens under the age of 18, in contradiction of the recommendation by an FDA panel. The lawsuit was filed by the pro-abortion Center for Reproductive Rights.
Plan B is a large dose (40 times the normal daily dose) of the oral contraceptive drug levonorgestrel. So, while this same drug is available only by prescription when used in smaller doses for contraception, it can be obtained without a prescription in a mega dose? How does this make sense? Now add to this madness that it will be on drugstore shelves along with aspirin where teens can purchase it.
Representing the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Deirdre McQuade said, "The court has acted irresponsibly by making this powerful drug available without a prescription to minor children. Plan B does not prevent or treat any disease, but makes young adolescent girls more available to sexual predators. The court’s action undermines parents’ ability to protect their daughters from such exploitation and from the adverse effects of the drug itself.
"Many studies have shown that wider access to "emergency contraception" among young people does not reduce pregnancy or abortion rates," McQuade continued, "but can contribute to higher rates of sexually transmitted disease. No public health consideration justifies the unregulated distribution of such drugs to children. This ruling should be appealed and overturned."
Presumably, the sole purpose of making it easier to use emergency contraception is the claim that this will reduce unintended pregnancies and abortions. Yet, as Ms. McQuade pointed out, there are dozens of studies conducted or sponsored by proponents of emergency contraception that failed to prove the claim. A list of some of these studies is available on the Nebraska Catholic Conference website at www.nebcathcon.org/printedresources.htm. Here is a sampling of the studies:
--The January 2011 isssue of the journal Contraception (Volume 83, Issue 1, Pages 82-87) featured a 10 year (1997 to 2007) study that examined the use of contraceptive methods in order to reduce the number of elective abortions. During the study period the overall use of contraceptive methods increased (from 49.1% to 79.9%) but the elective abortion rate doubled (from 5.52 to 11.49 per 1000 women).
- -- In a September 2006 editorial in the British Medical Journal Anna Glasier, a leading contraception researcher said: "Ten studies in different countries have shown that giving women a supply of emergency contraception to keep at home ... increases use by twofold to threefold ... but [has] had no measurable effect on rates of pregnancy or abortion."
- -- In a May 2004 article in the publication Contraception Anna Glasier said about emergency contraception that "[e]stimates of efficacy are unsubstantiated by randomized trials. Efficacy is based on rather unreliable data and a great many assumptions and have been questioned both in the past and more recently. ... While advanced provision of EC probably prevents some pregnancies for some women some of the time, the strategy did not produce the public health breakthrough hoped for."
-- James Trussell who originated the claim that easier access to emergency contraception could "result in a greater than 50% reduction in abortion rates" has conceded that 23 published studies from 10 countries disprove his claim. According to every one of the 23 studies, published between 1998 and 2006, easier access to EC fails to achieve any statistically significant reduction in rates of unintended pregnancy and abortion.
You can contact Greg at The Nebraska Catholic Conference, 215 Centennial Mall South Suite 310, Lincoln, NE 68508; This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
