Anti-scientism
Victor at Rightwing film geek expands upon the same argument I made of the hypocrisy of having Plan B being OTC, but not the regular pill. Though he says it much better. [Via American Papist]
Let me see if I've got this straight:
* A daily dose of from 0.05 to 0.15 mg of levonorgestrel requires a prescription.
* Requiring that a 1.5 mg dose of levonorgestrel must have a prescription is patriarchal tyranny over women's bodies, sexphobic anti-scientism and the precursor to a HANDMAID'S TALE-like theocracy.
That's the unavoidable conclusion of this atrocious and politicized decision (courtesy of blackmail from "the mom in sneakers and the devil in Prada") to make available Plan-B "emergency contraception" over the counter. From Janice Crouse of Concerned Women for America:
Since birth control pills require a prescription and a doctor’s supervision during use, how can the FDA or the drug manufacturer condone providing Plan B (a mega-dose of the same drugs) over-the-counter? Widespread access to Plan B would expose women to the health risks that here-to-fore were acknowledged by doctors who screened women before prescribing birth control pills and then monitored them for the wide variety of contra-indicators for their use.
To be sure, in the first of the above-mentioned dosages, many forms of the Pill also have estrogen or something that mimics its effects. But it's not as though progestins like Plan-B don't pose real health risks quite on their own or that progestin-only oral contraceptives don't also require prescriptions.
Today's greatest winner -- trial lawyers, who will soon receive a bountiful new field of cases, of people without medical training calibrating their use of drugs several times more powerful than what they need a prescription for when the stated purpose is something else (a fact that is chemically and biologically irrelevant). Mark my words -- within the decade, Barr Laboratories will either be hiding behind immunity granted by a Democrat Congress, bankrupt/in receivership, or will have sold Plan-B to the government or some group like Planned Parenthood.
I think another possible fallout is that contraceptive pills could also become OTC at some point. The FDA simply can't defend not doing this on medical grounds now that they have allowed this for Plan B.
Known as 
Hm: a new over-the-counter steroid for the jocks to experiment with!
NIH's website says: The male contraceptive regimen of testosterone and levonorgestrel significantly increases lean mass in healthy young men in 4 weeks...
It's so great to see how much women are loved and how much they are "luv'ed."
Why any woman would willingly turn their bodies into a home chemistry set with the pill is beyond me.
Sex is the new god! Suffer for him, sacrifice for him! Do anything for him!
I was appalled at NPR's coverage of this sorry event yesterday. They interviewed a pro-abort policy maker from some think-tank that uses "woman" and "family" as if they know what those are. She spent the whole time very clinically describing what the drug does. I was so crept out! This is truly a sad day for America's children and our culture.
Fr. Philip
P.S. I haven't seen any blog-coverage of Amnesty International's internal debate over its current "neutral" position on abortion...
Just to spread the word around, I am predicting that the Pill with be OTC within 5 years and that within 15 there will be no age requirement for either abortifacient (Plan B or the Pill).
It's inevitable at this point. And it's really sorry. (Roman Sacristan is right: Sex is the big god in our culture now.)
No doubt the culture of death made their appeal (to the FDA to go OTC) on the basis that some pharmacists invoked conscience in refusing to dispense the abortifacient. I don't fault those pharmacists, I praise them and commend them for having a backbone. I was edified to pick up the local paper this morning to discover that one of the local "dissenters" (a faithful catholc and independent pharmacist who refuses to stock plan B - whether it is OTC or RX) has publicly disavowed the latest contraceptive cocktail. I was less than edified by President Bush's comments recently which, in effect praised this move to further mainstream abortion!
The first thing I thought of was also that other contraceptives will be over the counter soon.
Can a cashier morally object to ringing up such products? I'm not a cashier, but I certainly wouldn't want to have to be the person "selling" the abortifacient - I would feel like I killed the baby!