The Socialist Menace Piercing the corporate veil of deception

Obama blocks morning-after pill for minors

Plan B: The Morning-After Pill

The Food & Drug Administration (FDA), following medical experts' recommendations, was all set to remove the Bush-era restriction on the emergency contraceptive, Plan B (often referred to as the morning-after pill).  Then, on December 7, the Obama administration interfered.  The Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), Kathleen Sebelius, overruled the recommendation to remove the age restriction.  This is the first time in history an HHS Secretary has overruled the FDA.

Use of Plan B is time-sensitive (hence the name, morning-after pill), and physicians are often unavailable on such short notice to write a prescription.  Thus, this move will effectively deny access to the contraceptive for minors.

This is outrageous on two levels.  First, there are the extreme cases, such as rape or incest.  If a 15-year old girl is raped, she will be unable to buy the morning-after pill without a prescription - and by the time she gets a prescription, it will likely be too late.

The outlier situations of rape and incest, of course, are the easier cases to make; many Republicans might even agree that these should be valid exceptions.  However, a broader (and more controversial) principle is at stake here:  access to birth control for all girls of every age.

The girls who are most in need of contraceptives or abortion procedures are the most vulnerable ones in society - young women, who are not old enough to be capable of raising a child, and poor women, who do not have the financial resources to raise a child.  Women who are older or more affluent will not be nearly as devastated by an unintended pregnancy.  Contraceptives may be helpful or convenient for the latter group, but they are absolutely vital as a basic human right for minors.  An unintended pregnancy can condemn a girl to poverty, placing enormous burdens on her and severely pressuring her to give up any hope of a more productive and prosperous future.

The Obama administration has deliberately blocked girls under 17 from obtaining Plan B without a prescription, once again eroding a critical civil liberty.  The consequences of this action will be catastrophic for innumerable young women.