New York – A month after distribution began, the over-the-counter version of the morning-after pill is now available at pharmacies nationwide. Planned Parenthood celebrated Wednesday with a free giveaway of the emergency contraceptive, while critics insisted that Plan B’s accessibility will soon be a cause for regret.
Plan B was the focus of bitter debate for years before the Food and Drug Administration, after repeated delays, declared in August that customers 18 and older should be able to buy it in pharmacies without a prescription.
The manufacturer, Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., then needed to develop new packaging for the over-the-counter version; it announced the start of national distribution Nov. 6.
Plan B, a high dose of a drug found in many regular birth-control pills, can lower the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 percent if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex. Girls 17 and younger still need a prescription to buy Plan B, though an older person – male or female – could buy it over the counter on a teenage girl’s behalf.
Supporters of Plan B had sought over-the-counter approval on the premise that wider availability would reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies and abortions.
Critics of the drug challenge those claims, arguing that Plan B instead will promote promiscuity and unsafe sex; they warn that men might coerce their underage sexual partners into using it. Some critics also consider the pill tantamount to abortion, although it differs from the abortion pill RU-486 and has no effect on women who are already pregnant.
Carol Cox, a Barr Pharmaceuticals spokeswoman, said the Plan B distribution went smoothly, but she would not specify how many pills were issued. She said the company does not expect detailed sales information until February.
The cost of a standard two-pill pack varies. Kate Horle, a Planned Parenthood official in Colorado, said prices there range from $30 at her organization’s clinics to $61 at some supermarket-based pharmacies.
