MSNBC announced that the Morning After Pill may be available OTC..

[GrantDem]

I can't find a link to it though. They said the FDA just announced it.

[Kahuna]

1. Whew! Fundy heads are going to explode. I smell a Rovian ruse

for an election issue here. Bush to the rescue!!!!

[GrantDem]

4. It is coincidental...

that the confirmation hearings for FDA chief begin tomorrow.

http://today.reuters.com/investing/financeArticle.aspx?...

[Scairp]

20. Here's the link from MSNBC

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/14119546/

[McCamy Taylor]

28. The "reconsideration" is probably a lie to quiet the Senate hearings

on the other hand, i'll bet that there is a lot of economic pressure to make them OTC. Right now, pharmacy chains are getting slapped with lawsuits from women who cant get their Emergency Contraception (EC) filled and from pharmacist employees who refuse to fill it. In addition, it is only a matter of time before women who get pregnant start suing doctors, hospitals, pharmacists and pharmacies for wrongful pregnancy---a really big ticket law suit---and if the pregnancy is the result of a rape or if the woman has medical complications because she was not a candidate for pregnancy or if the infant is born with medical problems these suits are likely to result in HUGE judgements against the plaintiffs. Multimillion dollar.

Then, there is the risk that doctors will go to their state boards and say "If pharmacists will not fill our prescriptions as written, we want the right to dispense prescriptions out of our offices and charge for them to make sure that our patients get the recommended treatment." No pharmacy chain wants to compete with doctors.

Finally, the pharmacies are in a lose/lost political situation now. If the fill EC, Right to Life hates them. If they dont fill EC, Planned Parent Hood hates them.

If EC is made OTC, then all the responsibility goes on the woman's shoulders (where it should be anyway).

[cally]

32. Great post...you made some points I hadn't considered.

I agree with you that the big pharmacy chains would like this issue taken care of and make the drup over the counter. Yippee!!!

[bemildred]

2. Yippee! nt

[blonndee]

3. Good! I wonder how many pharmacies around here will

refuse to sell it, though. My guess is at least 80%. At least.

[babylonsister]

5. But what about all those potential babies and

stem cells that will be killed? HAs the FDA consulted the wh?

[Akoto]

6. Oh no! The mass orgies and sex cults are soon to arrive!

[last1standing]

17. And it's about Damned time if you ask me!

n/t

[cal04]

7. FDA to consider over-the-counter morning-after pill after all

I'm not sure if this is what you're talking about)

The government is considering allowing over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill, but only to women 18 and older -- a surprise move Monday that revives efforts to widen access to the emergency contraceptive almost a year after it was thought doomed.

The Food and Drug Administration notified manufacturer Barr Laboratories Inc. early Monday that it wanted to meet within seven days to iron out new steps the company must take in its three-year battle to sell the pill, called Plan B, without a prescription to at least some women.

The announcement came just 24 hours before President Bush's nominee to lead the regulatory agency, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, was scheduled to appear before a Senate committee, where he was expected to face grilling on why the morning-after pill had apparently gone into bureaucratic limbo.

The morning-after pill is a high dose of regular birth control that, taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, can lower the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 percent.

http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/story?section=health&id=441...

[Sapere aude]

15. I can just see it, 16 yr old girls waiting outside a drug store trying to

get an older woman to by the pill for them.

Or is it that you can't be having sex if you are under 18? I know, if someone under 18 is having sex, they want to know the male involved.

[sinkingfeeling]

8. Well, well, after sitting on it since November 2003, they've finally said

OK. Guess those millions of signed petitions might have worked.

[mom cat]

24. Or the Repubs are trying to defuse this hot button item before Nov.

[Warpy]

9. About time!

I wonder how many women had to have surgical abortions in the meantime because these assholes dragged their feet for years.

I wonder how many women had to go through the hell of surrendering a child they never wanted to strangers they'll never know.

I wonder how many kids there are out there who will grow up feeling there is something wrong with them because their mothers really didn't want to be pregnant but couldn't bring themselves to abort.

I wonder how many women DIED, either through complications of unwanted pregnancy and childbirth or through suicide.

I wonder how the smugly religious manage to look at themselves in a mirror.

[OKNancy]

10. Please change your subject line to read:

Morning-After Pill May Go Over-The-Counter

That seems to be the correct status of this story.

Link:
http://www.kcci.com/health/9601247/detail.html

[GrantDem]

11. That wasn't how MSNBC announced it...

but done anyway.

[tandot]

12. Finally! Facts and reason prevailed over religious fanaticism... n/t

[Doctor_J]

13. This will get the Fundies to the polls in November

It will never actually happen, but Rove will have the media float it.

[uppityperson]

14. link to chart of other brand OC that have been used as Plan B

My understanding is there is 1 brand OC that is the official "Plan B", but it has been used for years, by prescription, of a bunch of different brands. Here is a link to a chart of other brands and more info. These are not FDA approved, I can not prescribe, can only pass on information for people to look at, make their own decisions on, bookmark on their computer and pass on to others that have not found this information or recieved it from health care people or planned parenthood people.

http://www.fwhc.org/birth-control/ecinfo.htm

Plan B is one brand of EC. It has two progesterone pills. Birth control pills that have both estrogen and progesterone can also be used for EC. Choose only one type of pill to take for EC. The chart below contains the dosage information for some common brands of birth control pills. Some birth control packages have several different colors. It is important to take the exact color on this chart. Brands not listed have not been tested for their effectiveness.

[dogfacedboy]

16. This will go through

now that BushCheneyCorp has had time to buy a bunch of stock in this product.

[depakid]

18. Bait & switch

Typical Republican/Bush tactics.

Have a meeting claim to be reconsidering- then after the opposition caves- go ahead with what you were planning to do anyway....

Or worse- jam through another piece of legislation making over riding state laws requiring pharmacists to dispense or to refer patients to somewhere close by that carries plan B.

These people have declared war a=on birth control period- if anyone thinks they're just going to punt, they're being naive.

These aren't Democrats.

[Mandate My Ass]

23. He's stalling. Pretending to relent.

No matter what Barr comes up with regarding enforcement of the 18-year-old threshold - he'll say it isn't good enough. Why not use the same means they use for selling tobacco. After sitting on this for years, he announces a plan that will take a week to resolve, one day before his confirmation hearing. Is there a bridge for sale included in this deal?

[depakid]

29. There's no need to even put that restriction in

The FDA already considered it- and their scientific panel voted overwhelming in favor of allowing access to minors (who- of any population- are most in need of plan B).

There will be a backstab coming somewhere- you cannot make deals in good faith with Republicans and expect them to follow through, unless you've got a big stick to hit them up side the head with. Anyone who hasn't learned that by now doesn't belong in Congress.

[MissB]

19. About damned time.

[Kelvin Mace]

21. Isn't going to happen

Here's the key text:

The announcement came just 24 hours before President Bush’s nominee to lead the regulatory agency, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, was scheduled to appear before a Senate committee, where he was expected to face grilling on why the morning-after pill had apparently gone into bureaucratic limbo.

After he's confirmed, he will kill the initiative citing evidence from some very respected scientists whose names must be kept secret for national security reasons.

[rexcat]

22. Here is the FDA link...

http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/NEWS/2006/NEW01421.html

[mom cat]

25. Here is rec # 5!

[smoogatz]

26. If this is true (and it sure as hell ought to be), it means a huge drop

in the number of surgical abortions in this country. And you've got to figure that's a Good Thing. Unless you're a fundie whackjob, of course.

[ananda]

27. rise in fake id's ?

Will we be seeing either a rise in fake id's or getting older friends to get the product?

What about those nine, ten, and eleven year old girls?

Sue

[Massacure]

31. A nine year old girl that is having sex has issues.

It shouldn't be a problem for high schoolers to get the pill though. Having just graduated high school just this past june, let me say that having to be 18 doesn't mean much.

[Massacure]

30. Still need to be 18 to buy it though?

Oh well, it's not like it won't be unavailable to teens. There will always be one person willing to buy something thats age restricted for people who can't buy it themselves.

[muryan]

34. The local pharmacist

has been giving it out to free to parents and/or teens who have specifically asked for it over the past couple years. The local cops know about it and often send kids to the pharmacy so that they can get it. They seem to realize that these girls will be a lot better off being safe, than trying to raise a kid as a sophomore in high school. Its a common occurance where im from considering 13% of the girls in my graduating class either had kids or were pregnant when graduation day rolled around, just something in the water here. Im glad they are making it available OTC finally even if there is an age limit, its not like i dont see 16 year old girls walking around with cigarettes everyday.

[VegasWolf]

33. Might be. Could be. Maybe. Some time. Whenever. If only. nt

[Megahurtz]

35. ROFLMAO!!!

Fucking hilarious!!!