The Best Laid Plan (B)

In a long overdue ruling, a federal judge ordered the food and drug administration to make the Plan-B morning after birth control pill available without prescription. The major finding was that the Bush administration had placed undue pressure on the FDA to limit the availability to women over 18.

No big surprise there; conservative moralizing finding its way to trump science and dictating the country’s health policies. Here, I find the hypocrisy of the religious conservatives staggering. These are supposed to be the people leading the fight against abortion. Unfortunately, they’re also leading the fight against birth control. (Plus adoptions by gays, but that’s another story.)

You would think that there would be a higher priority placed on preventing the pregnancy in the first place. But the real push was that costly white elephant, the Abstinence Program. Which doesn’t work. So that brings us to the attempted restriction of Plan-B, which was nothing but a thinly veiled punishment of young people that dare to have sex.

Remember that there were numerous delays and objections before getting Plan-B approved at all, for women of any age. Senator Clinton had to stonewall a Bush appointee to run the FDA until they agreed to allow the sale of Plan-B without a prescription. If a woman has had unprotected sex on a Friday night and is seeking Plan-B, what are the odds she’s going to get that doctor’s appointment before it’s too late? Can you say “S.O.L.?” The over-the-counter status for Plan-B was key to its effectiveness, and just getting that far with the conservatives took an all-out effort.

I know the prevailing thought is that the “morning after” pill is akin to abortion. That prevailing thought is wrong. Plan-B is not abortion; it’s no different than the effect of an IUD. Once again, the Christian right, under the guise of the Bush Administration, pushed through a policy that’s based on misinformation, hysteria and holier-than-thou righteousness in place of established science.

I sleep so much better at night now, knowing that science and common sense is once again present in our nation’s highest office.