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Plan B improves female birth control options
By Zoë Williams
williamz@mscd.edu

Most of the sex education in my childhood school district was done in eighth-grade health class. It was mentioned briefly in prior grades, but the final year at Sinclair Middle School was the big whammy.

This was the primer before we embarked on our journey to high school, the land of proms, “serious relationships,” relaxed dress codes and bad influences. In my class, we saw a tampon get dipped in a glass of water, carried around an “egg baby” to “parent” for a week, and watched a birthing video. We learned about the acronyms STD, HIV and AIDS, though we didn’t learn anything specific.

Had I obtained all of my knowledge from this single course, I would have probably assumed that the only available birth control were condoms which never work, that smoking makes you more likely to become pregnant, and that taking drugs or being in a gang leads to sex and pregnancy.

Sex education class did not quite cut it for some of my fellow students. The course was in the fall and come our continuation ceremony, two of my female peers were pregnant. Another student was sexually assaulted and nearly raped at a birthday party.

Thinking back, so much was left out of sex education. There was no mention of sex beyond heterosexual penetration, sex being pleasurable or sexual assault. We did not even touch on human papillomavirus, which is not only one of the most common sexually transmitted infections, but also the leading cause of cervical cancer in women.

According to my classmates, emergency contraception meant douching with a bottle of cola after risky sex. I worry that things have not changed.

On Aug. 24, the Food and Drug Administration agreed to allow emergency contraception, or Plan B, over the counter. Plan B is a high dose of Progestin, a synthetic female hormone that prevents ovulation or fertilization, and is 85 percent effective in preventing pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of risky sex.

Over-the-counter sales will begin at the end of the year and are only permitted for people over the age of 18, though minors can still seek a prescription for Plan B.

Within moments of the decision, opponents of Plan B were plastering the Internet with a collection of faulty theories and misinformation. As I read their cockamamie theories, I could not help but think of my classmates and how many of them would still fall for such hype.

The first and foremost misconception about Plan B is that it is the same as the abortion pill, RU486. As with birth control pills, Progestin will not affect a pregnancy, though it is not recommended for pregnant women. What it will do is alter ovulation or fertilization. Medical abortion pills prevent fetal growth, discontinue the supply of nutrients to a fetus or initiate a miscarriage, causing the uterus to empty. There is a gaping difference.

Opponents also state that the increased availability of Plan B will encourage women to be promiscuous. Correct me if I am wrong, but it was never within the authority of the Food and Drug Administration to restrict the sexual decisions of women in the first place. People make the sexual decisions they want, and we cannot inflict our morality or sense of rationality as long as there is consent. What we can do as a society is ensure that people can have choices to make themselves safe and improve the quality of their lives regardless of private affairs.

Perhaps the most compelling argument against over-the-counter availability of Plan B is that it will create a situation where women can just take a pill and forget about the unsafe sex they had the night before, rather than going to a doctor for the prescription and getting tested along with a complete exam. I hear this and I cannot help but think of what I learned in eighth grade and how short it fell of proper sexual education.

If we knew that all high school graduates were educated about all birth control methods, from pills and condoms to abstinence, we probably would not have to worry about such a thing. Sexually active people should get STI testing every six months and with all changes in partners or family planning. This is something that should be taught in schools, rather than being attended to in a doctor’s office after someone has started having unsafe sex.

Health options for reproduction and family planning continue to expand. Our sex, reproduction and health education should be advancing as well. Maybe ten years down the line, there won’t be people like me worrying about their former classmates going to pharmacies for a bottle of Coke rather than a pack of Plan B.