Pro-Lifers Protest Easy Accessibility of Plan B

Courtesy of CBN News Service: Controversy of Plan B

CBNNews.com – Plan B, also called the morning after pill, will be available over-the-counter to anyone 18 or older. Pro-life groups aren’t too happy the drug will now be so widely and easily available.

Taking Plan B is like ingesting as many as 40 birth control pills all at once.

“The morning after pill is a high dose of the birth control pill. And a low dose can cause complications like heart attack, stroke, blood clots,” said Wendy Wright from Concerned Women for America.

Kimberly Zenarolla of the National Pro-Life Action Center said, “The FDA has taken the indefensible position of encouraging the use of a potent synthetic steroid, which not only has the potential to destroy a newly conceived child, but also may pose serious health dangers to women and young girls who repeatedly ingest this mega-dose of artificial hormones.”

And some pro-life groups say in many cases it’ll be tantamount to a self-induced abortion.
As Dr. Gene Rudd of the Christian Medical Association put it, “Many women in America would not take it if they realized that it can have the effect of preventing a fertilized ovum, a living human embryo, from implanting in the womb and having a chance to be born.”

Others worry this will cause a serious spike in the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases. They say in countries where the “morning after” pill has already been available over-the-counter, studies show STD rates have increased.

But the decision to allow Plan B sales without a prescription doesn’t totally end legal wrangling over the drug’s use.

Organizations like Planned Parenthood are already pushing to wipe out the ban on selling it over-the-counter to teenagers.

“There is no scientific or medical reason to limit access to young people to get emergency contraception,” said Cecile Richards of Planned Parenthood.

But pro-life groups worry even the ban won’t stop enterprising teenagers.

“Untold numbers of minors buy cigarettes and alcohol using fake or borrowed identification. Now they will do the same with Plan B,” said President Ruben Obregon of The No Room for Contraception Campaign.

Many in the pro-life community are angry with the Bush administration over the Plan B decision. They point out the same President who worries about discarded embryos being destroyed for their stem cells is now turning a blind eye to the many millions of embryos likely to be destroyed by the women and girls taking Plan B.

“President Bush and his nominee to head the FDA…have turned the agency into a hand-maiden of the abortion industry and powerful pharmaceutical companies,” said Rev. Thomas Euteneur, president of Human Life International. “The FDA was created to be the last line of defense between consumers and manufacturers, but instead has become the lead offensive against women in crisis and the innocent unborn.”

Additional information:

• No Room For Contraception
• Plan B Pill Advocates Seek More Access