Plan B: The contraception wars, Part 2

Does anyone like the idea of a 15-year-old rushing off to the drugstore to buy Plan B after a wild night with her boyfriend? asked Michelle Cottle in TheDailyBeast.com. Obviously not. But her access to emergency contraception is still far better than her winding up “in the stirrups in an abortion clinic several weeks later.” That’s why a federal judge recently ordered the FDA to lift its restrictions on the sale of Plan B to girls under age 17. In 2011, the Obama administration overruled medical and policy advisers to insist that Plan B be age-restricted to those 17 and up. It was a blatantly political decision, out of fear that conservatives would accuse the president—who was then facing a tough re-election campaign—“of greasing the path to hot tween orgies.” Research shows that Plan B prevents pregnancy after an episode of unprotected sex, and is very safe. There’s no good reason to restrict its sale, except the “squeamishness many people may feel at the idea of libidinous teenagers.”

What about the message Plans B sends? asked John Hayward in RedState.com. Birth-control activists think all “young kids are sexy beasts whose urges cannot be controlled,” and that whenever they have a little “accident” like unprotected sex, they should be able to “nip on down to the corner drugstore for a fix.” You don’t have to be a prude to think that science, or some federal judge, shouldn’t be “the only determining factor when it comes to the well-being of our children,” said Kathleen Parker in The Washington Post. Maybe that’s why Obama—the father of two girls—has decided to appeal the federal decision while complying with it and lowering the purchase age to 15.

I suspect Obama has a different motivation for siding with conservatives on this culture-war issue, said Will Wilkinson in Economist.com. Liberals are accusing him of “throwing teen girls under the bus,” but perhaps they’ve forgotten that Obamacare requires all health-insurance plans to cover the cost of contraception. The contraception requirement started a major legal and political battle with the Right—affecting far more girls and women than the decision over what age to make Plan B available over the counter. By making a small concession on Plan B, Obama may hope to “reduce hostility” to his universal contraception mandate, thus increasing the chance he wins that battle. In the interests of women, isn’t that a small sacrifice to make?

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