A federal judge in New York has recently ruled that the emergency contraceptive, also known as Plan B, should be available over-the-counter to every person regardless of age. This changes the previous law that only people over the age of 17 could get a prescription to use Plan B.
Judge Edward Korman, who ruled on this Plan B case, has taken this issue from a moderate standing to a wild extreme. Where once we could rely on parents teaching their kids how to be safe and instilling them with morals, we now can turn to emergency contraceptives to fix our problems.
Plan B is a pill that a female can take up to 72 hours after having unprotected sex that will drastically reduce the chance of conception taking place. Contrary to some beliefs, it is not an “abortion pill,” because it will not work if conception has already taken place. Furthermore, this pill is highly safe to use according to the Food and Drug Administration standards.
While I disagree with the judge’s ruling, I don’t think that Plan B is a bad thing. I just think that there is a compromise that can be made. Instead of allowing 11-year-olds to buy Plan B, why don’t we just lower the age of buying Plan B to 16? This will increase the number of people that can now buy it as well as keeping younger people away from the product.
As Plan B is meant for more responsible adults, keeping it away from younger people only makes sense. We already recognize that adults have the right to make their own choices as Plan B is available over-the-counter for those 18 and over.
This does not mean, however, that I think we should be allowing 11 and 12-year-olds to go into stores and purchase Plan B. Under this ruling, this situation is entirely possible. I do not expect that there will be a mad rush of 11-year-old kids running to the stores to buy Plan B. The number of these young kids who may end up buying and using Plan B will be miniscule. But even if one 11-year-old uses Plan B, that’s one too many for me.
If 11-year-olds are using Plan B, it can mean one of two disturbing things. First, it means that they are sexually active at far too young of an age. Or, even more troublesome, it could mean that statutory rape has taken place. Either way, it is something that parents can get involved with to talk to their kids about how to be safe and avoid situations that put these young kids in these circumstances.
I also have the fear that making Plan B so accessible could lead to some unhealthy risks. People may begin to use Plan B as a form of birth control. Knowing that they will have Plan B available, younger adults could choose not to use common forms of birth control. This is dangerous thinking, though, as Plan B is an emergency contraceptive that is supposed to be used only when regular birth control methods fail.
With more availability of Plan B there is a risk that people will begin to engage in unprotected intercourse more often, as they know Plan B will be there for use. This can lead to a host of problems, the least of which could be an increase in the number of sexually transmitted disease cases. Again, if we could just encourage parents to get more involved and help educate their children, then I think all of this becomes less severe.
Besides all of this discussion, I think that we as a society need to focus more on the parents’ responsibility to teach their kids about how to be safe. Laws and regulations will not deter kids from engaging in sexual acts too early as much as a parent’s knowledge and disappointment will. If we can focus on that, then I think that there could be a lot less unintended pregnancies in this country.
