Back on December 7, The Department of Health and Human Services vetoed the FDA’s decision to allow the Plan B oral emergency contraceptive to be available to all women, without a prescription. From the reports I have seen the decision was a made because the FDA did not “’conclusively establish’ that Plan B could be used safely by the youngest girls.” In case you’re wondering, they’re specifically referring to 11.1 year-olds, which is the youngest age a girl is known to be capable of child bearing.
On one hand I think that the decision by DHHS was smart, you always want to make sure you have the best information when dealing with people’s health. But, I also think it’s idiotic to force thosefor whom the drug is safe, up to age 16, to get prescriptions.
Because the reason is semi-valid, I’m not going to puff up and get all angry. But it does make me wonder, when are we going to stop using children as a shortcut to blocking the freedoms of adults?