Perpetual Thursday: Guess it's time for Plan B...

Perpetual Thursday Ramblings, Rantings, Nonsense, and Bunk

Guess it's time for Plan B...
Thursday, August 24, 2006

(Hey notice the post titles? I made them blue! Nifty, huh?)

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A "morning-after" contraceptive can be sold to adults in the United States without a prescription, health officials ruled on Thursday, ending a three-year fight over wider access and use by teenagers.

The Food and Drug Administration said Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s Plan B pills must stay behind pharmacy counters to prevent girls under 18 from getting the drug without a doctor's order."

...and there you have it. The FDA has caved. The good news, if you could call it that, is that the pill must still be kept behind counters so girls under 18 cannot get the pill without a doctors order.

Obviously, pro-abortion groups and Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. (the company that makes Plan B) are not happy about that, and want more.

"Women's groups said wider access could reduce unwanted pregnancies and abortions....

...'There's no scientific or medical reason' for the age limit, said Amy Allina, program director for the National Women's Health Network.

Barr plans studies to back non-prescription use by a broader age group, said company spokeswoman Carol Cox."

However, pro-life groups such as the Christian Medical Association disagree with Allina and Barr, as reported by Lifesitenews.com:

"Both the Christian Medical Association, an association of 17,000 doctors, and Concerned Women for America (CWA) have criticized the FDA’s absurd rationale in distributing Plan B without medical supervision, which requires medical oversight for lower doses of progestin (the hormone in birth control pills) in order to protect women from serious health complications such as blood clots and stroke."

Another interesting bit of the Lifesitenews.com article states:

"CWA president Wendy Wright also criticized the FDA’s rules which make keeping Plan-B out of the hands of minors seem just as effective as preventing minors from receiving cigarettes.

'Any adult male who is having sex with a minor could walk into a pharmacy, buy the drug, and coax the girl into taking the pill,' said Concerned Women for America’s Wendy Wright. 'Parents have the right to know their daughter’s medical needs and to support them in the process. The FDA’s irresponsible action today takes those rights out of a parent’s hands and gives them to ill-intentioned perpetrators.'"

Now for the kicker, in the form of a previous little bit of news from Lifesitenews.com:

"At a White House press conference this morning, the President was asked by Bill Sammon a reporter from the Washington Examiner about Plan B and his new FDA commissioner (Andrew von Eschenbach) who supports its over the counter status. "Mr. President, some pro-life groups are worried that your choice of FDA Commissioner will approve over the counter sales of Plan B, a pill that, they say, essentially can cause early-term abortions," said the reporter. "Do you stand by this choice, and how do you feel about Plan B in general?"

The President replied, "I believe that Plan B ought to be -- ought to require a prescription for minors, is what I believe. And I support Andy's decision."

Gotta love that! Makes you wonder, really, if Kerry would have been worse? After all, these are the kind of things we would expect from him, and we're apparently getting them anyway. (Plus, things haven't exactly gone uphill in Iraq, but back on topic...)

Here another fun part - Bush, in his usual mode, tried to get off the subject ASAP: right after saying he supported "Andy's" decision he said: "Thanks for letting me come by the new digs here. They may be a little too fancy for you."

Ahhh, change the subject. Smooth, Bushy-boy, smooth. If you're really interested, you can read the entire press conference at the WhiteHouse.gov website.

And here's the really sad thing: some pro-lifers will continue to think Bush is a wonderful president. And nothing, nothing is going to change their minds.

(Boy, that was dismal.)

Labels: Politics, Religion

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Comments:
Nice. Really nice.
Posted by

Emily at 2:12 AM

You know...I'm not much for news, but unfortunately there's things out there that I ought to know. I thank you for blogging things like this, because otherwise I wouldn't know. Between PT and the NOR I should be newsed quite enough to thouroughly sicken me. Don't take that as sarcasm; I'm really grateful that you force it on me this way.

By the way, replied to your reply to my 6 replies below.
Posted by

Emily at 12:55 AM

DOWN WITH BUSH!

Sorry, enough of that.

But seriously, this guy is really showing his true colors now. He's just a politician with his mind set on things that will benefit himself in his tenure as president, rather than on what is ethical and moral. In other words, he's a spineless moderate who is willing to make compromises to try to appease everyone. And that, added to the fact that he's gotten us into this wretched, pointless, unjust war, makes me even more glad that I voted Peroutka in 2004. (Yes, I was old enough to vote that year.) I pity all who were deceived into voting for Bush.
Posted by

Grant at 11:31 PM

P.S. Since I don't go to HSA anymore (and can't now, because my account has been deleted at my own request), you could, if you like, go to this topic and post about the events you just described. (I don't think, though I'm not positive, that they've been mentioned there already.) Also, check out member John Scott's really long post on Page 4 of that topic; it has some real eye-opening facts.

(Yes, I still do occasionally visit HSA, just to see what kind of stuff is going on there.)
Posted by

Grant at 5:49 PM

It is All Bush can do at the time, perhaps he is a fool to support andy. But I have heard Rumors that he seeks to abolish abortion. Alas his Term is nearing its end so he won't accomplish much there, unless by some miracle he does.
Posted by

Anonymous at 12:22 AM

Ahhh... Mizor. You mis-worded something. I say: THANK GOD BUSH'S TERM IS COMING TO AN END. He wouldn't accomplish much no matter how long we have him. Those rumors are just that, rumors. Loads of BS pushed about by people who are still, sadly, dense or ignorant enough to belive Bush was a good choice.

And as for being "All Bush can do at the time," that's also complete BS. He could NOT support Andy. He could NOT support abortion and contraceptives. He COULD BE pro-life. BUT HE ISN'T.

He doesn't seek to abolish a thing.
Posted by

H.B. at 3:44 PM

Ah well I will not argue because my kind or say so in politics is terribly outnumbered by many mislead these days . But we all have our oppinions. My oppinion is that the entire idea for politics should be changed. I dislike politics, they are not to be trusted under any circumstance.

Bush, so disliked by many why? In the elections of 01 and 04, if you could reconsider your vote who would you have voted for? If all of you say there is a special "someone" who could have done better than bush and not fight back against the terrorists. Hmm Might I ask. What would You do if you were in Bush's place right now?

Hmmm?
Posted by

Anonymous at 12:31 AM

Boy... that first paragraph... wow. Sound like somone got their political philosophy from "Star Wars."

I didn't vote, and if I could have, I wouldn't have. Peroutka wasn't availible to vote for in my area. He was the only person worth voting for. Bush isn't 'fighting terrorists,' that's garbage. The war in Iraq is not now, nor has it ever been, about 'terror,' its been about spreading democrocy to those you (rightfully) don't want it, it's been about oil, and it's been about power.

Do I think someone could have done better? Yes. I belive Peroutka could have done batter - he was Catholic & pro-life, and MENT it. He wasn't pretending to be pro-life to get votes.

Then again, with how bad Bush has done, I'm not so sure a monkey with nukes couldn't have done any worse.

What I really love is how you keep talking about being 'mislead.' How do you know it isn't you who's mislead?
Posted by

H.B. at 8:33 PM

I voted Peroutka even though he wasn't available to vote for. In other words, my vote didn't count. But I didn't care; I was certainly not going to support the lesser (not by much) of two evils with my vote. I thought I heard Peroutka isn't Catholic, but he's certainly conservative and pro-family.

Alex, my good friend, the war in Iraq is not really directed against the terrorists. The Iraqis are not the terrorists, and aren't connected with them. And Saddam wasn't either. In fact I'm pretty sure I heard somewhere that Osama bin Laden hated Saddam, and wanted him to be overthrown (but not by the Americans).
Posted by

Grant at 11:24 PM

Osama and Saddam were not, as you say, friends. Actually, Saddam (and people are gonna hate me for saying so) was a good guy in comparison with the other leaders in the Middle East (and yes, that includes our allies). Unlike other Middle Eastern leaders, Saddam allowed Catholics (and other Christians) to practice their faith freely, even allowing (and having) some in goverment.

Funny how the one leader in the Middle East who had at least some good in him was the one we attacked.
Posted by

H.B. at 12:43 PM

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