« Yushchenko completes Monster → Hero transformation | Home | How to seduce your best friend's wife »
August 23, 2007
NY Daily News: Plan B a big success among tramps, jerks
Barr Pharmaceuticals announced that one year after making their morning-after contraception pill Plan B available over the counter, sales have doubled, reaching $80 million! Judging from their predictions last year, this is better than they expected, but still isn't exactly a blockbuster drug (Viagra's at about $800 million.)
Doubling sales of emergency contraception is sort of a murky cause for celebration, though. It's great than more women have access to Plan B (unless, of course, they're under 18 or don't have any ID) and can prevent unwanted pregnancies, which is what NARAL and Planned Parenthood are stressing. But Plan B still has a lot of enemies among anti-contraception people and some pro-lifers, and they're looking for data that suggests that making Plan B easier to get encourages irresponsible sex.
"Over-the-counter access has not increased or encouraged sexual activity," says Traci Perry of Planned Parenthood of New York City. She stresses that emergency contraception is a method of backup protection such as when a condom breaks.
OK sure, but how do women use Plan B in real life? The Daily News has an article on Plan B's one year anniversary, which seems intentionally written to destroy the argument that access to contraception doesn't encourage risky behavior. It begins with this personal anecdote:
Whoa, Kendra, a whole month of emergencies! You or your dude ever hear about condoms? I can just see the Family Research Council's press office carefully clipping this article to add to their "Promiscuous Liberals" binder.
Later on in their article, the Daily News reminds us that even if Plan B is available to most women without a prescription, you still have to ask a surly pharmacist to hand it to you from behind the counter:
Yuck. What is going on, Daily News? Last year they published an editorial complaining that Plan B was "being held hostage to politics" while the FDA took forever to approve OTC sales, and now they make it sound like a humiliating drug for sluts. Can we get some Plan B pride, or at least one "I am so stoked not to be pregnant!" story?
categories:
Business, Health, Media, Sex
posted by amy at 1:48 PM | #
Trackback Pings
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://amysrobot.amyinnewyork.com/mt/mt-tb.cgi/700
Comments
There is a lot to be said about the name "Plan B" as a merchandizing tool, which suggests there was a mess up. In some places it is widely known as "the morning after pill", which confuses people to think they have only until morning to fix the problem. I actually like the term "72-hour grace pill", which is used by Dinah Project (www.dinahproject.com/articles_view_details.asp?id=59) - there's no blame, which works better in cases of rape, which is quite a common source of demand.
Posted by: monique at August 27, 2007 9:48 AM
but what about the std's>>>>don't they matter
i would rather keep it zipped than screw up something good.
Posted by: nobody important at August 23, 2007 4:35 PM