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The Pill


Guest SweetMisery1

Should the pill be given over the counter?  

24 members have voted

  1. 1. Should the pill be given over the counter?

    • Yes
      16
    • No
      8


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Guest SweetMisery1

Thsi is a new issuse spured by the abortion debate. Currently the morning after pill is avaliable only witha perscription. With this, people who have an 'accident' late friday and Saturday won't be able to use the pill at all because they can't get a perscription.

Personally I think that this pill should be over the counter. The FDA proved this pill safe by scientific reasoning and when brought to the final panel for a vote, the numbers were around 24 to 4 for it to become over the counter. Then the head of the council was personally asked to research the pill again and suddenly the science department was not consulted and the one-sided vote was ignored. Should the FDA use non-scientific data (i really didn't know how to word this)

One suggestion was that the pill should not be allowed without a perscription for girls 16 and under. This is ever more idiotic in my opinon because they are the ones who need it the most. They're inexperienced and are prone to mistakes.

Feedback?

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Guest Melody Fate

The morning after pill? Yes. It's a temporary fix for a temporary problem.

Regular birth control pills? No, because someone on the pill should visit their GYN at least once a year.

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Guest Agaib

I'm no doctor and I really don't know much about what poses a danger to one's health and what doesnt. I do see why making it only possible to get the morning after pill with a perscription really defeats a whole lot of the point involved. I'll watch this debate more closely to see the reasoning on both sides.

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Guest Melody Fate
I'm no doctor and I really don't know much about what poses a danger to one's health and what doesnt. I do see why making it only possible to get the morning after pill with a perscription really defeats a whole lot of the point involved. I'll watch this debate more closely to see the reasoning on both sides.

I don't know about now, but it used to be you could get the morning after pill in the emergency room, especially if you were raped.

There were a few people who claimed rape when in truth, the condom broke. Now that they're more persistant in finding and stopping rapists, I don't know if that "solution" has been eliminated.

Before anyone asks/accuses, I am not saying that toughining up on rape laws is a bad thing. I think it's a good thing. Having grown up in the era of "Don't ask, don't tell," where half the time rape victims felt as if it was really their fault, I'm glad that as a society we're finally starting to realize it is a crime and it often has little to nothing to do with sex.

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Guest Agaib

On the issue of rape here is my opinion.

To a healthy person rape can be a perfectly healthy fantasy. But it should never ever be anything more. Me and my girlfriend act out rape fantasies togeather for fun, but just like everyone else in the world. I have no respect for a person who commits a real rape.

Almost as bad however, are the people who claim rape when somthing as silly as a condom breaking is the issue. People who falsify rape claims make it harder for those who really have been raped, and that's just wrong.

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Guest Melody Fate
Almost as bad however, are the people who claim rape when somthing as silly as a condom breaking is the issue. People who falsify rape claims make it harder for those who really have been raped, and that's just wrong.

I would completely agree with you, providing you can get the pill no matter what the reason. If its a case of embarassment in admitting the condom broke, or things got too heated, then yeah, that's just wrong. However, if it came down to, "If I don't say I was raped, I can't get the pills," then I can see why people do it, as what I was told was the case in the days back when.

Of course, this was the day when by law, husband could not rape his wife. She was techically his property and for her to not want to have sex was refusing her marital duties.

This was the days when the police advised girls who were raped to just try and forget about it, because the rapists lawyer would do his best to make sure the victim looked like a cheap slut who was asking for it.

This was a day in age where you could say, "I was raped, I'd like the morning after pill" and that was all that happened. When rape was a dirty little secret that the victim was forced to bear on their shoulders. "No one has to know... don't tell anyone...." where to say, "Yes, I was a victim of rape," was to be the butt of a million jokes.

In truth, if people took a professional attitude and didn't feel it was their place to pry into the reasons why someone wanted the pills in the first place, no lies would need to be told.

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Guest SweetMisery1

OK... let me create a senario. A girl in college. A passionate night with a hot guy. The condom breaks. Her parents would not pay for her school anymore. Her parents are major pro-life. She is dirt poor as man collrge students are. The night of the 'accident' was friday. The doctor's office isn't open. What now?

I don't think the pleading rape case is a factor because A. rape can be determined in most cases. B. It doesn't matter id there are no questions asked and its over-the-counter

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Guest Melody Fate
I don't think the pleading rape case is a factor because A. rape can be determined in most cases. B. It doesn't matter id there are no questions asked and its over-the-counter

Rape doesn't play a factor anymore, that's what i was pointing out. It used to play a factor when that was the easiest "no questions asked" way to get them.

Personally, I think women who had to resort to lying in order to make sure they didn't get pregnant because of an accident is just...sad. The morning after pill is a nasty form of birth control and makes you feel like you've got the worst virus you've ever had and then some. It's not a method anyone would ever chose as a form of regular birth control, so chances are anyone asking for it is not doing it because they're lazy or stupid, or whatever, chances are what they normally use for birth control failed them.

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Guest Alien Pirate Pixagi

...Jeez... this is why just got regular old OTC-L cause stuff like this I don't really need to be dealing with.

Personally, I think they DO need to be monitoring who HAS taken the morning after pill and how often because it becomes dangerous (and less affective) after the first time you use it. There's a reason you can't just stock up on the stuff for those little "Just in case" situations.

That, and they should be supplied on demand in emergancy rooms. We're in the middle of a major sexual revolution whether or not people want to see it. People are having sex all over the place, and condoms are BREAKING all over the place. Or not being used. With so many issues concerning unwanted pregnancy (teenage or otherwise) today you'd think this would be an easier thing to get.

And this who "embarrassed that the condom broke" bullshit is just that. Condoms break. It's a fact of life with sex. They break, and at little to no fault of the users, might I add. There are really only three ways to make a condom break and have it be your fault. They are as follows:

-Double Bagging- Using two condoms creates friction and makes them less relaiable.

-Cutting it- Be it with your nails while getting it on or with a pair of scissors to MAKE it useless.

-Using the same condom more then once- Boys, if you ejaculate, change the condom.

So therfore, unless you did one of the above or didn't use a condom at all, you shouldn't be embarassed about this.

However, you'd think in this day in age with so many differant forms of birth control we wouldn't need stuff like this. I mean, really, regular birth control pills have far more uses then keeping you from getting pregnant. I know a few girls who take them to keep their menstral cycles from going out of wack and other such stuff.

So, really, save yourself all the pain (as Melody mentioned) and just get on the frikkin pill.

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  • 11 months later...

I believe they should be given over the counter. The alternative is worse in my opinion. A teenage girl not being able to go to her parents for the pill...and then she becomes pregnant and potentially decides for an abortion. Although I am pro-choice, all the way, I think that it shouldn't be tossed around lightly AT ALL. I think this is a better alternative. happy.gif

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Here's my take on the situation - I voted no for a damn good reason. Hormones (those little things that make it so you MIGHT not get pregnant) can really screw up your system. Not every woman can take the same hormone and some are actually allergic to the synthetic hormones used. Hormones can play merry havoc with a woman's system and if she isn't being checked regularly by a doctor it could cause permanent damage - even make it so that she can't carry a child or conceive or develop cancer.

Also, when a woman goes in for birth control she's also checked out for various diseases that aren't STD's. A lot of cancer has been caught this way - it's one of the main ways that doctors have of catching the buggers before they get bad... if the stuff is over the counter there goes the main resource doctors have of getting young women (and those of us who are older) into their offices.

I am one of the 0.02% of the population that these things actually work as a fertility drug (or so my gyno told me) and my daughters and my son are birth control babies. My oldest was a Norplant baby (granted that form of birth control was flawed in a big way) my twins were deppo babies, and the miscarriage I had between them was a pill baby (and I did take them the way I was supposed to... I was obsessive about it). If I wasn't under a doctor's care I might have continued the treatments and done damage to my children.

Just because your body makes the substance naturally doesn't mean it's actually right for you. I work in the health care industry and I see every day what happens when someone takes something that isn't right for them... this is just like taking someone else's pain meds - it's dangerous and a needless risk.

As far as the embarrassment goes... if you are old enough to have sex you are old enough to speak up and protect yourself.

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I have to agree with Leon on this one. I'm one of those lucky, rare women who can't use hormonal birth control at all, because it could kill me. Doctors, midwives, nurse-practitioners - I don't care who it is, but somebody needs to be performing a thorough medical history before a woman takes something like this.

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Okay I voted on this, don't remember what I said, hopefully I put No!

The pill isn't something you can just go and buy. While it is kind of expensive (mine is 30 bucks without insurance) it shouldn't be just a go-to-the-drug-store-and-buy-it type thing. There are some major side effects to the pill.

Also I agree with the whole needing to see the OBGYN once a year. If I hadn't seen mine about a month ago I would be plagued with thinking I had some horrible STD or perhaps a very unwanted pregnancy.

I agree with the "Morning After" pill being OTC, but only that. Girls have a right to do something if they could possibly have an unwanted baby.

This is a very touchy subject with lots of people, some think because of prescription costs it should be OTC but then again, if your doctor doesn't think you need it and you go buy it and it interacts badly with other pills you might be taking, it could be dangerous.

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Hm, I've actually never been on it, becuase I'm paranoid, so I choose abstinence. You all have good points, and have swayed me. And yes, I forgot about it, but girls can get medical help through planned parenthood also, and *hopefully?* they help the safe way happy.gif

Thanks for the info.

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DC has a good point. All drugs (and yes - these are drugs - a controlled substance) have side effects - hell most holistic herbs and such have side effects. They can interact with whatever else you maybe taking and not everyone tells their pharmacist or doctor what they're taking. What harm can aspirin do - or how about my daily vitamin? A lot.

As far as the Morning After Pill goes - I still believe this should be by prescription only. I know that may not be a popular belief but it still has hormones and if you aren't observed while taking it you can get in a shit load of trouble.

I know of a woman who used this treatment and abortion as her only means of birth control... now she can't have kids and her cycle is completely messed up. That's a bit extreme, but if the Morning After Pill is OTC girls will use it as such. It's a human trait to try and hide what you're ashamed of, and that can be very dangerous. What happens if the reaction you have is a hemorrhage? If you aren't under care at the time you could die. Is death really a risk a person should take to save face?

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