Plan B Available to Girls of All Ages

Link to Article

A federal judge on Friday ordered that morning-after pill Plan B be made available over the counter for children of all ages. Currently, girls 16 and under require a prescription to obtain this hormone filled emergency contraceptive. The judge gave the Food & Drug Administration 30 days to lift the age restriction on the the pill. As the court awaits the FDA's response to the order, there is much debate on whether it is the right decision to have young children easily access the pill without having to go through their physician or parental guardian. Dr. Manny Alvarez speaks out about the reasons why this can be potentially harmful to young girls in terms of what the pill can do to their bodies and the message that it sends out. According to Dr. Alvarez, Plan B may lead to side effects including nausea, headaches, and menstrual changes. The effects can be even worse on an adolescent children who have menstrual changes to begin with. Emergency contraceptive is intended to be used for true emergencies and not as a regular method of preventing pregnancy. Without proper sex education, it is difficult for young adolescents to make responsible decisions. Furthermore, Dr. Alvarez feels that the easy access to Plan B fails to teach young children about respecting their bodies and protecting themselves against sexually transmitted diseases.

The argument for allowing Plan B to be easily accessible as an OTC drug for people of all ages is that it will help prevent unwanted pregnancies in young adolescents and teenagers. However, do children that are as young as 11 years old have the maturity to make proper decisions on their own? Shouldn't a pediatrician be involved in educating them and guiding their decision making process? The emergency contraceptive is loaded with a high level of hormones and should not be taken regularly. If there are fully informed grown adults who irresponsibly take the pill regularly as a contraceptive, what is to stop a developing child from misusing the OTC drug that is so readily available? Birth control pills still require a prescription and healthcare providers can not even administer aspirin to underage children without parental consent. It seems like a final decision will not be made soon but these are factors that should certainly be considered.