![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jaunthieThere's an excellent editorial article on The Washington Post, appropriately titled When Politics Defeats Science. It's all about why American adults still can't buy the morning-after pill over the counter in their local drug stores.
There's no good scientific reason for it; ample studies have shown that it is safe and effective.
There's no good sociological reason for it; preventing accidental pregnancies 48 hours after having sex isn't going to increase the overall likelihood that people will want to have unprotected sex in this era of deadly STDs.
There's no moral reason against it; it's a contraceptive, just like the pill, condoms, IUDs, and a long so on. I repeat: Plan B is not an abortion pill (like RU-486), but a contraceptive pill; if you take it, you don't get pregnant, thereby obliviating the need for an abortion. Most Americans don't object to contraceptives.
There's no good "hard to enforce" argument against it; because of concerns raised by some conservative groups, Plan B would only be available to people over 17 without a prescription, but so what? Critics claim that it would be too hard to enforce the over-17 requirement, to which I reply: what about selling alcohol and tobacco, then? Shall we pull that too on account of the over-18 rule?
The reason why you or I or anyone out there over the age of 17 can't buy this pill over the counter in America today is simply because a minority of Americans with influential friends in the government don't want this pill available, because they believe that the only reason for sex is procreation.
And they're doing their level best to force that ideology on the bodies of American women everywhere.
And they're winning.
There's no good scientific reason for it; ample studies have shown that it is safe and effective.
There's no good sociological reason for it; preventing accidental pregnancies 48 hours after having sex isn't going to increase the overall likelihood that people will want to have unprotected sex in this era of deadly STDs.
There's no moral reason against it; it's a contraceptive, just like the pill, condoms, IUDs, and a long so on. I repeat: Plan B is not an abortion pill (like RU-486), but a contraceptive pill; if you take it, you don't get pregnant, thereby obliviating the need for an abortion. Most Americans don't object to contraceptives.
There's no good "hard to enforce" argument against it; because of concerns raised by some conservative groups, Plan B would only be available to people over 17 without a prescription, but so what? Critics claim that it would be too hard to enforce the over-17 requirement, to which I reply: what about selling alcohol and tobacco, then? Shall we pull that too on account of the over-18 rule?
The reason why you or I or anyone out there over the age of 17 can't buy this pill over the counter in America today is simply because a minority of Americans with influential friends in the government don't want this pill available, because they believe that the only reason for sex is procreation.
And they're doing their level best to force that ideology on the bodies of American women everywhere.
And they're winning.
