Back in June, the FDA approved the sale of Plan B One Step (aka “the morning after pill”) for over-the-counter sale without age restrictions. The drug was scheduled to become available in pharmacies on August 1st. But Oklahoma wasn’t having it! The predominantly anti-choice government in Oklahoma passed a law through which places restrictions on the morning after pill. Under the law, women under 17 years old must get a prescription and women 17 and up are required to show their ID to the pharmacist.
Right now, Oklahoma women still have unrestricted access to the morning after pill thanks to action on part of the Center for Reproductive Rights. They are challenging the new law in court on the grounds that it violates Oklahoma’s rule against “single-subject rule” and it imposes unnecessary barriers on women’s access to emergency contraception. Until the case is decided, the restrictions cannot go into effect. And the law isn’t likely to take effect because, as State District Court Judge Lisa T. Davis said, the CRR will probably win their case.
Even though the restrictions probably won’t take effect, they are still incredibly irritating. There is absolutely no good reason to limit access to emergency contraception. Opponents often make the argument that access to contraception encourages sexual behavior in youths. But youths have been having sex since long before the morning after pill was available – and the pill is certainly a much better emergency contraception option than the Coca Cola douche which women resorted to in the 50s and 60s!
The other argument against the morning after pill comes from the anti-abortion front. They mistakenly believe that the pill is an abortion. Even the Catholic Church knows this isn’t the case and approves emergency contraception in some situations! These anti-choice groups want to limit access to the morning after pill to “save” lives. But they don’t seem to comprehend that limiting the morning after pill is just going to cause abortions because more women will be faced with unwanted pregnancies.
Anti-choice group Life News goes as far as saying that the morning after pill is going to enslave girls because they will be forced to take it by predators and pimps. But the only enslaving which is going to happen is when women get enslaved into motherhood because they didn’t have easy access to emergency contraception.