Thanks to the nation's health secretary, pro-lifers are pleased that the Plan B "morning-after" pill won't be sold over the counter to minors anytime soon.
At the last minute, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled the advice of her own experts who actually wanted young girls to be able to buy the drug to prevent impregnation after intimacy. President Barack Obama is defending the decision.
Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America thinks Sebelius made the right decision. "We're very happy to not have to worry about having the Plan B right between the candy and the condoms at every counter in the grocery store and the drug store that we come to," she comments.
And Crouse suggests that the HHS secretary's decision was made for political reasons, as opposed to political correctness.
"It's a political decision made necessary by the fact that President Obama's disapproval ratings are above 50 percent," she explains. "So they're going into the election season, and she can't afford to make a decision that would alienate the vast majority of parents in this country who are very concerned about their children's well-being."
Crouse also believes that pro-lifers who have worked so hard to fight Plan B's distribution should be credited for forcing Sebelius' hand and ensuring "a little bit of protection for our kids."
The morning-after pill prevents a fertilized egg from attaching to the wall of the uterus, and according to Jeanne Monahan of the Family Research Council, making it available to girls under the age of 18 would not have been in the best interests of young girls. (Listen to audio report)
"It's actually ... not good public health sense, and really not common sense to make a drug like this available without a prescription, and thereby without a doctor's intervention and some sense of medical screening," she contends.
Monahan explains that Plan B is basically nothing more than a high dose of birth control, and no valid research indicates the impact it might have on women, let alone young girls.
"So you can be sure that taking a high dose of hormones when a system is still developing can have some sort of impact on it, and potentially long-term impact," Monahan notes. "There have not been many studies on this, but most doctors will agree that that's something that would need to be taken into consideration."
The Food and Drug Administration had recommended that the morning-after pill be available over the counter, but Sebelius decided against that.
Contact: Charlie Butts
Source: OneNewsNow
