If they're going to consider making EMERGENCY contraception available OTC, why not just make ALL contraception over-the-counter? Why not just let women go pick up ALL birth control pills, and not just the emergency kind, without having to get a doctor's prescription?

I have not analyzed the pros and cons, just posing that question.

Birth control pills need to be prescribed because the wrong dosage can make you nauseous, cranky and psycho all the time (I know this one from experiance). Diaphragms have to be fitted.

The reason all birth control cannot be given over the counter is because it uses hormones that does affect women differently. A doctor has to decide what level of hormones are best for you, it often has to be changed if there were too many mood swings or weight gain and with all the choices out there there is a follow up appointment months later to determine how well you are doing with the formula given. There are also the risks of stroke and heart disease if you smoke that a message on the back of a pack can't make as clear as your doctor can. Plus having to get birth control from your doctor almost ensures a yearly pap smear which is necessary for a woman's reproductive health. It can catch cervical cancer cells and asymptomatic chlamydia which is a good thing because many women who do not take oral contraceptives, do not get a pap smear every year because of the invasive and embarrasing nature of a pap smear.

As for Plan B being available OTC, hell yeah!

Yeah. I'll believe it when I see it.

Something is better than nothing unless that something is nothing, in which case we might as well not bother being hopeful.

I live in Canada, where Plan B has been available OTC for the past few years. In fact, I just saw last weekend, a PSA ad in a bar's washroom stall promoting its use.

I really do hope that the FDA will approve the OTC sale of Plan B. When you need the morning-after pill, you don't want to have to spend an eternity waiting in a clinic to get a prescription (not to mention the cost that it'd normally entails for American women).

As for the minimal age to access Plan B, I find it ridiculous to limit it to 18+. If that age limit were to pass, it'd mean that a teenage girl would have to rely on an older sister, cousin or aunt (or any other adult) to get it for her... And in that case, who knows if it wouldn't eventually lead to ridiculous legislation prohibiting adults from procuring plan B for a teenager (akin to the proposed legislation aiming to make a crime out for a non-parent driving a teenage girl to another state for an abortion when she lives in a state where abortions are prohibited to underage girls)?

And while we're on the subject of contraception and drugstores: I'm always baffled (and saddened) by the stories of pharmacists being allowed to refuse to sell birth control pills (and other contraceptives like Plan B) to their clients out of personal, moral beliefs; don't they have some sort of ethical code (or professional order) that would force them to sell them, regardless of their own beliefs?

the bad news is that they will likely only recommend that Plan B be made available OTC for women 18 and older, leaving younger women without greater access to backup birth control.

Teens who need Plan B will get it the same way they get other age-restricted items: through older friends or relatives. Or they'll buy it online with a prepaid credit card (the kind you find in convenience stores) and make up a birthdate.

It seems to me that the best solution for teens (and other women) is to buy it or get someone to buy it for you before you need it; then it's right there if and when you need it and there's no trying to find it and someone who'll get it for you. I guess a young teen would have to keep it hidden somehow, though. Is it too expensive or does it have too short a shelf life for this to be a viable option?

There's a darn good reason for using a different standard for issuing "Plan B" or similar drugs when the person is underage. When a teenage girl is asking for a morning after pill, etc., something more is involved here than simply "a woman asserting control over her body." What is involved, here, people, is A CRIME VICTIM!!! An adolescent in need of these drugs has been violated - a victim of statutory rape - and absolutely she needs the help and support of parents, authorities, etc.

Didn't we just go through this issue a few years ago, when an abortion clinic went ahead and approved the operation for a girl in her early teens, who as it turns out was the victim (not "lover", etc.) of a man in his 20's? The clinic people invented all kinds of excuses for refusing to inform not only the girl's parents, but also the police. There was a justifiable hue and cry when the media were alterted to this.

That's all we need...another scandal involving victimized girls, compliant pharmacists, and politicians more concerned with adults' votes than adolescents' well-being.

"When a teenage girl is asking for a morning after pill, etc., something more is involved here than simply "a woman asserting control over her body." What is involved, here, people, is A CRIME VICTIM!!! An adolescent in need of these drugs has been violated - a victim of statutory rape - and absolutely she needs the help and support of parents, authorities, etc."

Settle down, Sparky. That's not the definition of statutory rape. Statutory rape is when a legal adult has sex with a legal minor, outside of any defined age gaps (i.e. in some states it's not statutory rape if there is less than four years' difference in age, for example an 18 year old with his or her 16 year old companion.)

So: a 16 year old trying to get her hands on Plan B could have had legal and consensual sex with her 16 year old boyfriend, but may have no particular desire to have a baby just then. You see?