COMMENTARY | On Wednesday, Kathleen Sebelius, the Health and Human Services Secretary, overruled the Food and Drug Administration in a decision that would have offered the morning-after pill Plan B on drugstore shelves. The FDA would have allowed those under 17 to purchase the pill without any guidance from a parent or doctor. Since Sebelius stepped in, the pill will continue to be sold behind the counter without a prescription for those 17 and older. Those under 17 still need a prescription.
This decision disappoints women’s groups who have been hoping for easier access to the pill. However, President Obama supports the decision, as it’s about more than just a political or scientific issue. It addresses the concerns many parents have about their daughters, including that this access will increase unprotected intercourse between teenagers.
It’s true that the cognitive differences between an 11-year-old girl and a 17-year-old are substantial, as Sebelius pointed out, but young girls should not become mothers just because they was uncomfortable talking to their parents about Plan B. Since girls who haven’t even reached their teenage years are capable of bearing children, I think Sebelius made a difficult but unrealistic decision.
No matter what types of restrictions are put on this pill, younger teenagers are still going to have unprotected sex. At least with the pill, they have somewhere to turn. Allowing young girls to buy this pill without consulting their parents and doctors first will hopefully mean that there are less teenage mothers out there. So many teens are too scared to talk to their parents about sex, so they deal with it on their own, often leading to life-changing consequences.
In all likelihood, young teens will only be able to afford the highly priced pill a handful of times before they have to ask their parents for help anyway. This is why Plan B should be used for the emergencies it was intended for, and not as a reason to have increased unprotected sex.
The FDA’s recommendation will likely happen anyhow, whether it’s now or 10 years from now. If parents aren’t happy about this, they need to step up, talk to their kids about sex and continue talking to them about it. If teenagers are making the choice to have sex, they need to be encouraged to use regular birth control so that Plan B becomes just a last resort.