Is there a Plan C?

The Food and Drug Administration's decision to reject over-the-counter sales of Barr Pharmaceutical's Plan B emergency contraception, known colloquially as "the morning-after pill," is just another of many thinly-veiled attempts to control women's sexuality. \nIn 2003, two FDA advisory panels voted overwhelmingly that Plan B was safe and effective and should be sold without a prescription. Yet less than six months later, the FDA rejected Barr's application, because of a lack of data regarding its safety for girls under the age of 16. And when Barr voluntarily agreed to reapply with an age restriction of 16, the application was mysteriously rejected.\nAccording to The Associated Press, congressional investigators found that "some documents suggest the decision was made even before scientists finished reviewing the evidence."\nWhile this is not by any means surprising, it is nonetheless alarming. Though not the first time that politics have trumped science in laws regulating medicine, this judgment is by far one of the most obvious. Through modern science, we have the ability to prevent unwanted pregnancies, even in cases of nonconsensual sex. It is being denied to women who need it most, such as those who can't afford the necessary doctor visit to obtain a prescription, live too far from a woman's health clinic or are too embarrassed to talk to their health practitioners.\nThe importance of Plan B is that it's effective 89 percent of the time with minimal side effects, and, contrary to the opinions of the radical right, prevents pregnancy rather than terminates it. \nBut in order to politicize the issue, some extremist members of the right have been intentionally confusing the drug, in the public mind, with the true abortifacient RU486. Plan B, however, is a contraceptive, and according to some statistics, has the potential to prevent more than half of all unwanted pregnancies.\nSo the obvious question is: why would those most opposed to abortion oppose something that could so vastly decrease the number of them performed? The answer is quite simply that it further empowers women to take control of their own sexuality. And to some, that's threatening.\nSince the development and legalization of effective birth control, women have been liberated from having to choose between fulfilling sexual desire and pursuing an education and career. The elimination of this choice led to relative social and economic independence for women. However, the rejection of Barr Pharmaceutical's application for over-the-counter status is an attempt to impose controls over this freedom. Women on campus, as beneficiaries of the work of earlier feminists, must recognize the importance of this issue regardless of their sexual activities.\nWe can't afford to remain silent. Plan B has the potential to save rape victims from the emotional toll of a subsequent pregnancy, as well as reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions. Medical science cannot be subjugated by the prevailing political will, or else it ceases being science altogether.