Plan B "Birth Control" - Pedophile Friendly

Today I read with interest, disdain, and more than a little bemusement the A/P article wherein Federal Judge Edward Korman has over-ruled the Bush Administration's ban to restrict access to the "Plan B" morning-after pill, and approved its purchase by 17 year old girls. The article described Plan B as "birth control pills".

“Plan B”. “Birth Control Pills”. Such benign descriptions for what is in fact a drug that prevents pregnancy after intercourse by radically altering a woman’s body chemistry so as to - in a single dose - prevent Ovulation, and which may in some instances (according to the manufacturer) "inhibit implantation (of the embryo) by altering the endometrium”; in other words, a chemically induced abortion. Let's set aside the sheer mendacity of calling it a "birth control pill" for a moment. My first question is: why would a Federal Judge think he had the authority to change the law of the land regarding a Minor's access to what is clearly a prescription drug? The fact that the FDA ruled it could be made available to adults over-the-counter last year hardly justifies making it available to Minors, but that’s not the worst of it. According to the FDA, allowing 17 year olds to have access to it is merely the next logical step, and by their own admission, making it available to girls of any age is the next.

We’ll discuss the social consequences of the federal government promoting sexual activity amongst girls later. One might think from these rulings that the drug is without side effects; no more dangerous than aspirin, for example, since the intent is to provide it to Minors On Demand, without Parental Notification, without a doctor's visit and without a prescription. Let’s review that, shall we? We’ll start with Label Warnings and other advisories from the websites of the manufacturer and suppliers of Plan B, aka Progestin:

“Do not take Plan B if you have had an allergic reaction to progestin, the type of hormone found in the drug. You should also avoid this medication if you have any unexplained vaginal bleeding”. Call me crazy, but the cat truly is out of the bag if you’re a teenager who didn’t bother consulting a doctor about these issues before you took the pill, and since the whole point of the new ruling is an extension of the policy to allow young girls to get abortions without their parent’s knowledge or any adult supervision, it’s clear there is no check against abuse of the drug, or the consequences.

“There is a slight chance that progestin, the hormone in Plan B, could cause an ectopic pregnancy, which occurs when a fertilized egg becomes implanted outside the uterus, usually in the fallopian tube”. Would you be surprised to know that per the FDA “ectopic pregnancy” currently is the leading cause of pregnancy-related death among women during the first trimester in the United States?

“Progestin is only effective if taken within 72 hours of Unprotected Sex”. Does the FDA really think this is going to dissuade young girls from taking the pill once symptoms of pregnancy arrive, frequently week’s later?

"The most common Plan B side effects include: Nausea; Abdominal pain; Fatigue; Headaches; A heavier menstrual period; A lighter menstrual period; Dizziness; Breast tenderness; Diarrhea; Vomiting. Aspirin, this is not. If a Girl gets drunk at a party, has unprotected sex and then takes her Plan B afterwards, if she throws up, aspirates her own vomit and chokes to death, who will the Authorities hold responsible? They sure as hell aren’t going after the FDA; my guess is the Parents, most likely, or perhaps the owners of the home where the sex and drinking took place.

Plan B Drug Interactions include: Aminoglutethimide (Cytadren®); Aprepitant (Emend®); Amobarbital (Amytal®); Butalbital (Fioricet®, Fiorinal®); Pentobarbital (Nembutal®); Phenobarbital (Luminal®); Primidone (Mysoline®); Secobarbital (Seconal®); Modafinil (Provigil®); Carbamazepine (Carbatrol®, Epitol®, Equetro™, Tegretol®); Felbamate (Felbatol®); Lamotrigine (Lamictal®); Oxcarbazepine (Trileptal®); Phenytoin (Dilantin®, Phenytek®); Topiramate (Topamax®); And finally, “Some (but not all) antibiotics”. And that's the short list. Does anybody believe there's no issues with a 17 year old (or soon, 12 year old) self-medicating without the knowledge of Parents, doctor or any other trained professional? The very secrecy the FDA is actively promoting ensures there will be no proper supervision of this drug, much less its interactions.

Next, we must consider the consequences of the FDA’s plan to allow the purchase of Plan B by Minors from any pharmacy or clinic that carries the drug, with nothing more than an ID with a birth date on it. Consider as well that FDA policies have explicitly blocked Parents or Doctors from playing any part in its purchase, or having an opportunity to counsel a Girl on how it’s administered, or its consequences. Let’s say you're 17 (or soon enough 11, if the FDA has their way) and you think you're pregnant. You go to Walgreens and get your “Morning After” pills, which must be taken at specific intervals. Just to be on the safe side, you go to CVS and get another dose. No sense taking any chances, and all you had to do was show ID with your date of birth. Fortunately, you didn't get pregnant, so you continue to have unprotected sex. A month later, you think you're pregnant again. Per the FDA, no problem, you can get another prescription.

Who is monitoring the frequency with which this drug is taken? Not the government. Nobody in a position of responsibility is any the wiser. For the sake of this argument, I’m assuming that a 17 having unprotected sex is not “responsible”.

Plan B doesn’t exactly sound like a drug without consequences. And in case you think there's a slippery slope to allowing such a drug to be purchased by girls 17 and younger, you would be right. In fact, the FDA not only encourages the slippery slope, they've been applying metric tons of KY Jelly (also available without a prescription) to it, and all in the name of “Science”. Reporter Ricardo Alonso-Zaldivar also authoritatively reports that in addition to the FDA and Judge Korman "more than 60 organizations petitioned the FDA to allow sales without a prescription", and that "a panel of outside advisors voted 23-4 to recommend over-the-counter sales without age restrictions".

No word as to who those organizations are, but I suspect that some of them have – how shall we say – an interest in promoting sexual activity amongst minors. More about that later.

And what of the risks? In their rush to release this for use by young girls, they fail to address the fact that they have done no studies to predict the impact of Plan B on sexually immature females, so girls 17 and under are essentially Guinea Pigs. Your children are the playthings of the Social Welfare crowd, long term impact be damned. Call me cynical, but the minute the Government approves the unrestricted use of such a dangerous drug by young girls so fraught with unknowns and consequences, can a rash of lawsuits be far behind? Put it this way, Product Liability attorneys are already reformulating their business plans.

And speaking of cynicism, Judge Korman – parroting the line of various spokesmen for the FDA - declared that the Bush Administration’s decision to block access to this drug without prescription to 17 year olds was “politics, not science”. Korman offered no proof for his accusation, and appeared not to entertain for a moment that Bush’s motives might have been governed by neither politics nor science, but principle. Aside from the fact that a Judge’s ruling, and comments, are supposed to be governed by the facts and the law, what purpose was served by injecting his opinion as to the motives of the Bushies? It would have no effect on the ruling, so in its proper context, his opinion is gratuitous.

Unmentioned by Korman, the FDA and other appendages of the Democrat Party were the principled concerns of the Bush Administration, among others: the lack of parental notification, the lack of oversight by a physician, the safety of the minors using the product and the illegal trafficking of the drug resulting from its unrestricted availability. It’s a Leap to figure how any of those concerns are “political”, but in the twisted universe of the Democrat Party, accusing Republicans of “playing politics” on matters of principle is standard operating procedure, as is criminalizing the political activities of the Republican Party. The last time I checked, the Democrat’s sole reason for existence was “politics”, and there’s nothing wrong with that. However, getting a federal judge to jump into bed with you, advocating for your causes from the bench while denigrating those of your opposition is yet another distressing sign that our Judiciary is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Democrat Party.

That being the case, who is it that is playing “politics” with this issue?

Finally, here’s an interesting tidbit from the New York Times that was left out of Alonso-Zaldivar’s article: “Men 17 and older also may buy Plan B for a partner”. In a sane world, where Democrats claim to stand for the empowerment of women and girls, is there ANY reason a man (other than a girl’s parent) should be allowed to purchase this drug? Is there any sane reason to allow Pedophiles to acquire this drug without restriction? What about Pimps and the Sex Slave trade? Could these be among the “more than 60 organizations” who “petitioned for over-the-counter sales without age restrictions”?

If you’re a minor girl, unrestricted and unsupervised access to this drug would only seem to promote promiscuity. Whether you’re a Pedophile or a Pimp, unprotected sex would seem to be the objective, since such predators are rarely concerned about the consequences of a “broken condom”. The consequences of this policy would seem to be a booming black market for the drug, more Pedophilia, more Prostitution, and an epidemic of STDs amongst our children. And it’s not too much of a stretch to predict that this will result in more teen pregnancy, not less, unless you’re counting on children to use it within the strict guidelines recommended by the Suppliers.

So, has Judge Korman enabled another constiuency for the Democrat Party? Call it "P&P", for Pedophiles & Pimps. Only time will tell.

It seems that rarely a week goes by that a Democrat policy doesn't end up having the exact opposite effect from what was intended. In the case of protecting our children from STDs and pregnancy, mandatory Sex Ed was supposed to do it, and failed. That was Plan A. The ironically named Plan B drug now provided to children appears to be yet another example.