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Sunday, Nov 8, 2009
I did take the morning-after pill once and it does make you sick as a dog...I mean SICK...but I never hear that brought up in most discussions about it. I wonder why? Would it ruin someone's argument?
I agree with others: you're happy to have it that one time, but after that you'd never think of it as regular contraception.
As for the pill being OTC, I see the argument but the pill is associated with some health problems, especially in women who smoke or are very overweight, so it seems to me that it should be taken after consultation with a doctor. You only have to go once a year.
And yes, having Plan B OTC would be a lot better than ferreting out a doctor on a Sunday morning, getting a script called in and possibly having the pharmacist refuse it. I think a lot of young women are too misinformed or intimidated to do it. If I were young and single again, I'd probably buy one and keep it on hand.
I'm not sure I understand your interest in having the pill made OTC. Why would think this is more important? The whole point of Plan B is to get it in an emergency. That is why supporters consider it important. And as others have stated previously, the regular pill is not the same and shouldn't be given without doctor supervision.
Don't get me wrong, I love the pill and have been on it successfully for 20 years now but its serious medication. As for cost, at Planned Parenthood it runs around $15. I currently pay $10 under my health plan for the Ortho Novum generic. Contrast that with a much more expensive Plan B and the conservative's argument of "abuse" goes out the window pretty fast. Besides, you seem to think that there's one pill out there that will work for the majority of women and thats just not the case. OTC for the regular pill is not based in reality. Anyone faced with an insurance carrier who won't pay for BC should go to PP for their prescription. I used to be able to get up to six months of packs from them so if location is an issue, that can be resolved as well.
And why are we only concerned about teenagers? Does everyone think anyone over the age of 21 is married? I'm assuming the majority of the market for this drug will be adult women and not teens running off to pay $40 a hit for it.
As for side effects, all the posters here are saying they tried "a type" of EC. As Kate has described, Plan B is a totally different animal so lets not scare women away from using it with horror stories of past drugs.
that while you folks argue over what should happen that you invest some energy regarding your own persoanl choices as well as the choices your children will be faced with, and in word and deed demonstrate that personal responsibility and self-esteem are nor synonymous with careless, casual sex?
You may hate to admit it, but the moment that OTC treatment hits the first store shelf males will be bringing it along on the date with the bottle of wine (or with the Arby's twofer coupon for our low class freinds) saying, "baby, the other thing I hold here in my hand is our ticket to Fuck City."
Welcome to your world. Just one more thing women will have responsibility for while men fuck indiscriminately. Imagine how much easier this will make affairs.....
When someone goes to take Plan B is it because she had sex without contraception or is it because she knows she conceived (which is very difficult to do in the first few days)? I'm curious because by learning about the horrible side-effects here, I'm wondering if people take it "just in case". And if so, maybe that's why the horrible side effects aren't talked about so much. People will be scared to take that on without knowing definitely if they're pregnant. Maybe they'll think that they should wait until they know for sure and then pursue an old -fashioned abortion.
And as for the guy bringing Plan B on a date, if he can bother to go to the drug store for that, can't he just as easily pick up some condoms? Plan B is for people who do NOT plan ahead.
You’re getting Plan B (emergency birth control) and RU486 (the abortion pill) confused. Plan B stops a pregnancy before it takes place - that’s why it’s essential it be taken so quickly after unprotected sex. Plan B is not useful to a woman wanting to terminate an existing pregnancy.
Thanks Anne, yes, I did forget that major point. Honestly, I can see people not taking Plan B because of the side effects and chancing it. But I guess that's a whole other issue. RU486 isn't all that much fun either.
Uh, yeah, because when I think of a romantic evening with a guy, I think of him suggesting that we prevent pregnancy after our little tryst by me taking high doses of hormone pills, rather than him suggesting he wear a condom.
Most women are not totally stupid and *are* looking, very hard, for some sign that a man has any consideration for them whatsoever before they will sleep with him. We all understand that most men don't like condoms very much, so when a guy brings along condoms he says "I care enough about your welfare -- as well as me getting laid -- that I offer up a means of protecting you from pregnancy that really isn't ideal for my pleasure." If, however, he brings along pills for *us* to take, he's saying "I really don't care about you at all, I just wanna stick it in you and then not have to pay child support." Most women are just not stupid enough or desperate enough to fall for that. Even if it's not widely known that the morning-after pill has side effects (and I have seen several posters point out that the side effects I experienced, and many other women have experienced, was because we weren't actually using Plan B, but fudging it with megadoses of birth control pills, so I can't actually say what the side effects of Plan B are), few women like the idea of *all* the risk and *all* the responsibility in sex falling on *them.* Which is what happens when Mr. Lovegod shows up with Plan B instead of condoms.
Besides, condoms protect me from Mr. Lovegod's diseases, too. Plan B doesn't.
So, let's see. Greater sacrifice on his part and greater protection for me, vs. greater sacrifice on my part and less protection for me. If he's the one trying to make the argument, how is the second argument going to convince me nearly as well as the first? And *men* are not stupid and will quickly realize that bringing condoms along is a better guarantee of getting laid than bringing Plan B (not to mention that *if* Mr. Lovegod's intended *objet d'amour* really is one of these rapacious bitches who likes to get knocked up so she can scam child support out of a guy for 18 years that people like Brightstar apparently know so many of, Mr. Lovegod isn't protecting himself at all, because she doesn't actually have to take the pills he gives her; he can only be sure of protecting *his* interests if he wears the condom... and what if she's the one with the disease?)
So no, sad but true, I don't think we'll see an epidemic of men toting along Plan B to their romantic evenings. It just won't work to get them laid nearly as reliably as toting condoms along will. (Yes, some women are stupid and desperate, but many of those are probably already having completely unprotected sex. And most of them aren't the kind of women men actually want all that badly, else they wouldn't be desperate.)
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