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Morning After Pill Available Over-the-Counter in U.S. Pharmacies Mid November

Bush approved the distribution in August to consternation of conservative base

By Gudrun Schultz

NEW YORK, United States, November 9, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) - American women will be able to pick up abortifacient emergency contraception over the counter in their local pharmacies by midmonth, the Associated Press reported November 6.

Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. said shipments of the Plan B drug have begun through the corporation’s Duramed Pharmaceuticals unit, in a statement Monday. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted Duramed exclusive sales rights to Plan B for the next three years, Barr said.

The drug will be available in over-the-counter sales to women 18 years and older. Girls under 18 will still require a prescription from their doctor.

The FDA approved nonprescription sales of the drug in August, after a lengthy battle--opponents of the move warned the prescription-requirement for underage girls would be essentially meaningless, since there would be no way to prevent anyone 18 or older from purchasing the drug for a minor.

The FDA responded to concerns by requiring Barr to “[m]onitor the effectiveness of the age restriction and the safe distribution of [nonprescription] Plan B to consumers [ages]18 and above and prescription Plan B to women under 18,” according to the Kaiser Daily Women’s Health Policy Report.

The company said it would send “anonymous shoppers” into pharmacies to check if they were complying with age regulations, as well as distributing a safety booklet with the drug to ensure proper usage. Barr said it would not sell the product at gas stations or convenience stores.

While advocates for the medication claim easy availability cuts down on abortion rates and unwanted pregnancies, a recent report from the United Kingdom admitted that both abortion and teen pregnancy rates had increased following the drugs’ release for nonprescription sales.

“Despite the clear increase in the use of emergency contraception, abortion rates have not fallen in the UK. They have risen from 11 per 1,000 women aged 15-44 in 1984 (136,388 abortions) to 17.8 per 1,000 in 2004 (185,400 abortions),” researcher Anna Glasier wrote in the British Medical Journal in September.

Additionally, Plan B causes unknown numbers of early-term abortions by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the wall of the uterus.

See related LifeSiteNews coverage:

Advisory Doctor to FDA Confirms Morning-After Pill Acts as Abortifacient
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/oct/06100408.html

President Bush Approves Over the Counter Early Abortion Pill, Pro-Life Base Decries Move
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/aug/06082101.html

UK Abortion Rates Continue to Climb Despite Increasing Emergency Contraception Use
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2006/sep/06091507.html

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