It's ironic that feminists want to make it easier for men wanting sex to force medications on young girls by making birth control pills and abortifacients available without a prescription.
-- From "Catania bill seeks to provide birth-control pills over the-counter" by Tim Craig, Washington Post Staff Writer 2/15/11
A [Washington] D.C. Council member introduced a bill Tuesday aimed at allowing women to bypass the doctor's office and get birth-control pills directly from a pharmacist.
Council member David A. Catania (I-At Large), who introduced the bill . . . has the support of Planned Parenthood, which long has argued that birth control should be more readily available to women. The bill is viewed skeptically by doctors and could push the city into conflicts with antiabortion groups and Food and Drug Administration regulations.
Catania's legislation does not set age restrictions on who would be able to obtain birth control from a pharmacist . . .
In 2006, the FDA approved the sale of Plan B, the so-called morning-after pill, over the counter to women who are age 18 or older.
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From "Morning after pill faces test over access" by Susan Heavey, Reuters 2/11/11
Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd earlier this week said it had asked the FDA for permission to sell [its Plan B morning-after pill] without any age limits, the latest salvo in a decade-long battle over the pill. Only those 17 and older can buy it now without a doctor's order.
Medical and women's groups have sought wider access for Plan B, which Teva acquired in 2008, since 2001. But the effort stalled under President George W. Bush and sparked multiple legal actions and congressional protests that the agency was letting politics trump science.
The FDA allowed limited "behind the counter" sales for women 18 and older in 2006 that required controversial identification checks. It later lowered the limit to age 17.
Planned Parenthood, the Reproductive Health Technologies Project and other supporters said this week they were thrilled Teva was seeking wider access.
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From "Morning after pill linked to STD rise" from the UPI 2/1/11
The morning after pill may not have reduced teen pregnancies in Britain but it may be linked to a rise in sexually-transmitted diseases, researchers say.
Professors David Paton and Sourafel Girma of The University of Nottingham used local health data to study the effects of the availability of emergency birth control at pharmacies on conception rates and the diagnosis of STIs in teens age 18 and under.
On average, areas operating a pharmacy emergency birth control program had an overall increase of 5 percent in the rate of STIs among teenagers -- 12 percent in those age 16 and under -- while the program was associated with a small increase in the number of teens pregnant, the study says.
Since 2000, local authorities in England have been encouraged to offer emergency birth control free of charge, over-the-counter at pharmacies, to teenagers age 16 and under.
The findings are published in the Journal of Health Economics.
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