I don’t know what Secretary Sebelius is doing or if she is doing it at the behest of Obama’s political strategists. Her explanation seems kind of far-fetched to me. And I don’t see much upside politically. Maybe Bob Casey is happy. I don’t know. I think it’s stupid all the way around.
About The Author
BooMan
Martin Longman a contributing editor at the Washington Monthly. He is also the founder of Booman Tribune and Progress Pond. He has a degree in philosophy from Western Michigan University.
not too happy about this.
You’re not happy about anything.
ZING!
also, objectively untrue. I am very happy that Newt’s looking like the candidate, among other things. You just don’t like me because I’m tenacious and critical. But you know nothing of me as a person, do you?
No, no you don’t.
Adding, that if forcing a 17 year old to carry an unwanted child to term because she couldn’t get plan B is the kind of thing that makes YOU happy, well I fell sorry for you.
I’m not sure how I feel about this decision. In theory, I think it should be available over the counter. My experience teaching junior and senior high school students, however, tells me that there is good reason for caution.
If?
If?
Yes, let us ponder deeply on the question of whether a Democratic administration is ducking an “abortion pill for teenagers” (I know it’s not actually an abortion pill, I’m talking about how it would be framed politically) brouhaha during an election year. Big whoop. They’re not creating some new bad decision. They’re just perpetuating the status quo. Nothing is lost, and nobody should be either surprised or outraged. It’s fucking politics. Sometimes you just gotta accept a little cowardice and cynical bullshit on the path to greater progress.
Why don’t you read up on this. And why not ask women their opinion?
That would make sense, except that this doesn’t really get them anything politically.
Doesn’t get them anything? It doesn’t cost them anything, either.
Remember Rick Perry and the HPV vaccine? Preteen girls’ hoo-has are political danger zones. You know that the morning-after pill gets conflated with abortion anyway, right? You really think the politicians in the HHS and the White House wouldn’t duck from this?
If the HHS’ goal was to increase availability to sexually active high school age women, then surely a compromise age could have been worked out with the FDA. Like going from 17 to 14 or whatever. But Sebelius’ letter was the giveaway. Any time anybody in any business or walk of life justifies an action based on the most extreme hypothetical consequences, without leaving room up to find a middle way instead, it’s a sign that there were unsaid factors at play in the decision making.
shorter bazooka joe: “what’s a little cervical cancer, a few rape-babies, and some unwanted children when there’s political expedience at stake?”
Morals, how do they work?
You must be drunk or something.
BJ is right. There is nothing problematic about this. The liberalization was unimportant.
She is obviously doing this at the behest of Daley/Sunstein.
The political view is glaring, but I’m curious about the physiological angle too. This is a hormone based drug right? And what are assurances (via medical trial) that it is safe for someone as young as 11 or 12?
Exactly. My worry as well. I don’t think society wants 11 year old kids taking strong hormone medication without advice from a doctor or parent.
And giving birth is such a lovely experience for an 11 or 12 year old!
That is a really ignorant response.
There’s a reason why the cons want a parent’s consent, and it has nothing to do with the psychological implications of the medication. It has everything to do with the fact that the parents who wouldn’t give consent in the first place and their kid would be forced through labor.
Do you need a reminder as to why Susan Wood resigned?
Like I said, I can’t get too worked up over this when it comes to the politics, but christ on a stick, don’t defend it over some nonsense hidden our scientific ignorance of the drug’s implications. Just accept what Bazooka Joe said, and move on…because it’s exactly right.
You and I probably agree on much of the politics here. But you shot back a response implying that taking Plan B assures that someone who had unprotected sex will not become pregnant.
In fact Plan B only cuts the odds in half of a pregnancy AND that is only if it was taken in the 3 day interval.
And why are you bringing up psychology? Or is that a mis-type?
And about all the other stuff outside physiology:
There are an infinite variety of situations that girls can find themselves in and they don’t always boil down to “parents who wouldn’t give consent”. Maybe that is the cons position. I don’t know and I don’t really give a rats ass about that. I do care that if a 12 year old girl is having sex and taking this because in her eyes it is a “solution” to a problem, that some professional or caring parent has the chance to make sure she is at least: 1) not being abused or exploited by an adult (illegal in all states), 2) is fully informed about STDs and protected sex.
I also believe that people with daughters know right away what I am talking about and people who don’t may not get it.
I’m really torn on this issue as well because when I was teaching, I knew two girls who were pregnant at a very young age and both went through an extended period of denial. Psychologically they were in rough shape and I do wonder if they would have taken plan b well after the 72 hour window.
I also wonder about the kind of demand to provide counseling/screening that this would place on pharmacists and what their views of this decision are.
Read the f–king scientific literature on this!!!!!
Gosh I never would have thought of that! I’ve started the process. How many scientific papers on drug test phases have you read? They’re not exactly like the simple babble you put out.
Thanks for nothing, chump.
I’m a scientist, though not an MD. I’ve read some of the papers. It seems like it is probably safe, but I still think more testing is warranted for long term effects, if any, on very young users, and there should be more work on drug interactions.
I understand that the FDA has approved it. They have made mistakes before. Science isn’t perfect. I think its best to be very conservative when it comes to strong medications like this one.
I am also a parent with middle-school kids, and I don’t like the idea of them being able to get a strong hormone medication without some feedback from doctors or parents. There are other forms of birth control available that don’t involve taking strong drugs.
This is a hormone based drug right? And what are assurances (via medical trial) that it is safe for someone as young as 11 or 12?
The FDA panel looked at this and recommended making Plan B OTC. Sebelius – the former Governor of Kansas, not an MD – had to overrule them to issue this decision.
Thanks, but I know the gist of the story. The NYT has a decent story on it today as well.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/12/08/health/policy/sebelius-overrules-fda-on-freer-sale-of-emergency-co
ntraceptives.html
I still don’t get the outrage. The rules remain the same. Those under 17 can still get it but they still need a prescription and Sebelius’s reasons are not illogical. Who on the left wants to go on TV and argue that the administration is horrible for taking precautions when it comes to underage girls and the effects of hormones?
Its not like she cited the Bible or some religious belief.
Were people in anticipation of this ruling? is this up there with Gitmo? feh.
I agree. What the fuck does it matter if the rules were not liberalized?
Obama has not banned the drug. He has just not made it easier to get.
THIS JUST IN – DRUG REMAINS EXACTLY AS DIFFICULT AND EXACTLY AS EASY TO GET!!
Next, we will have OP (Occupy Pharmacy)?
RAAAAHHHHHMMMMMM!!!!
I so miss him being the scapegoat.
Can’t get worked up about this in an election year. It’d be one thing if groups brought it to trial and the admin bought them off by saying, “hey we’ll change it if you drop your suit” like with the EPA. It’d also be another if it was a reversal (I’ve heard rumblings of them reversing their decision to make insurance companies cover birth control…if that happens, break out the pitchforks).
But I think Planned B is more controversial than abortion. For one, it’s known as an abortion pill to many people. I’ve even heard women’s advocates get the science wrong on it and other forms of birth control (Rachel Maddow, for instance). For two, this isn’t your traditional womenz…these are GIRLS!!! I’m currently substitute teaching, and one day in the workroom during lunch the teachers were talking about this one problem child who’s 15 and still in 8th grade. One of the teachers goes, “Yeah, and you know that girl is sexually active…SHE’S 15!!!” She said it as if I was supposed to gasp in horror and amazement. If I had been full time I may have said something, but I don’t want to create any waves with my only means of paying college loans…
That doesn’t mean women’s rights activists should stfu. They should raise bloody murder.
Why would you allow unsupervised access to science based birth control to a population that is primarily taught abstinence only in schools?
They could have made it behind-the-counter, meaning that the girls would have a conversation about its use with a pharmacist.
When something is as politically nonsensical as this, I assume that it’s not being done for reasons of political strategery.
Sebelius has always been somewhat of a soft-lifer. I think the most likely explanation is that she thought this was the best decision.
So much fail in some of these comments that it’s hard to know where to start.
the Obama administration has now taken the side of the religious right when it comes to reproductive rights.
Yeeeeeah…no. The religious right does not support making Plan B OTC for adults and available by prescription to minors. They support charging people who provide it with Attempted Murder.
But nice try.
Obama now, and probably always has been, in favor of removing the rights ‘for their own good’.
I get it!
And his entire career in public office has been a sort of ruse to lure us into a false sense of security.
Nalbar, do you belong to the NRA? http://www.google.com/url?q=http://mediamatters.org/blog/201109260004&sa=U&ei=gADgTsLnLqnz0g
HwsNyLBw&ved=0CBwQFjAB&usg=AFQjCNGC3jciKjvDWT_nQLEz4uE_Aue2kw
Don’t believe what is right in front of your eyes, only believe what you wish is true.
.
What is that, your motto?
Oh, one more thing, Coach Sandusky:
Describing a situation in which an 11-year-old ends up pregnant as her being “sexually active” makes you a genuinely sick *^$%.
I agree with your point 1 wholeheartedly, but you go further and further off the rails with each successive point here.
The big problem here is that women as a group are denied the benefits of the evidence showing plan b is safe for OTC use. We are the only group routinely targeted for denial of health care by religious groups and legislators, and we’re constantly told to shut up about it so people can win elections by people at ALL levels of the political process.
I think it would be a good exercise if Booman posted this again and only women and girls responded. For my part, in honor of my daughter and all women, will shut up now.
I had the same thought.
Nothing has changed.
Shorter version of 4:
1+1+1=3,200,299.2002909
Leaping to total lack of logic, anyone?
I have to sign a release so that my 16 year old can get a tylenol from the high school nurse. He cannot bring tylenol or advil to school. He cannot bring his rescue inhaler to school without the filling out of many forms. But yes, this is obviously a purely political decision and has nothing to do with legitimate concerns about the welfare of underage girls.
And the FDA is not infallible. They have been understaffed for a very long time now and have made some bad decisions and have also been mislead by pharmaceutical companies about the risks and complications associated with particular medications.
THIS JUST IN – RULES HAVE NOT CHANGED!!! CUE OUTRAGE – 3…..2…..1
outrage !!
Look, here’s the nut of the problem: as long as the restrictions on selling Plan B to women under 17 is in effect, the drug remains behind the counter. Every woman, regardless of age has to ask the pharmacist for it rather than being able to pick it up, pay, and walk away.
The drug becomes no more and no less available to anyone–and for that matter, how many girls under 17 don’t have a trusted friend old enough to make the purchase for them?
The decision is disappointing. It is not an outrage.
I have to ask the pharmacist for pseudophedrine and give my drivers license. It hasn’t prevented my access.
I don’t know.
It seems to fit their usual practice of avoiding confronting Republicans.
http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2011/12/07/in_an_unprecedented_move_the_hhs_secretary_overruled
the_fda_decision_on_emergency_contraception.html
.
http://pandagon.net/index.php/site/comments/who_to_blame_for_the_plan_b_debacle
.
Yeah, I agree with Amanda on her thinking about parents and liberals and stuff. As I said, I think it’s more controversial than abortion in almost every case (in people’s minds).