Plan B

I'm personally against Plan B, because I'm one of those weirdoes that doesn't believe in premarital sex or birth control for myself. But it would not bother me if other people used it as they see fit.

Yes, we are all entitled to our opinions. Flaming to me is when someone wings a comment at someone else that doesn't present anything useful or productive. It's meant to tick them off or provoke. The comment that you made, unfortunately, falls into that category. But hey, no hard feelings..All of us here have had posts that kind of came from an emotional place and not a logical one.

I'm not "flaming" anyone. It seems to me that we ALL have our opinions on what other women should do/not do with their bodies. And we are ALL entitled to them.

I have to disagree with that statement - not to get personal, but because I see it as fundamental to the difference between those pro- and those anti-Plan B (and/or other medical issues...). I specifically don't feel its right for anyone to tell - or legislate - what anyone else can do with their body and their lives, considering the issue under debate has been approved by the FDA as safe and effective from a medical perspective. And I see that view as very distinct from the statement above.

Again, I'm not trying to flame anyone either, I just wanted to clarify what for me is the foundation for how I view most of these issues.

Oh your comments are not insulting! I have many reservations about this. I am Catholic and I do feel that abortion is not acceptable, but I also struggle with seeing children suffer everyday with parents that are not prepared to raise them and don't want them. I have my moral beliefs, but reality crosses with it everytime! I truly wish that we could see mothers that give their babies up for adoption as wonderful and caring people, instead of tagged as irrespossible and cold.

This is a much bigger issue than "should plan B be available?"

T

I quoted this reply because of the adoption comment ..... I don't see mothers who give up their children as irresponsible and cold. I see them as caring individuals who made the most difficult decisions of their lives. I am an adoptee. I for one am glad my BM did not abort me. Were she alive today, I would thank her for having the courage to give me to a family that desparately wanted children but couldn't. I realize that all adoptions don't work out but I have wonderful parents and a terrific brother (also adopted). I know that "T"'s intent was not to accuse everyone of feeling that way of adopted mothers....I was just relaying my feelings from personal experience....

... but no birth control method is 100%. but i have picking up in many of these posts a definite idea or viewpoint that unplanned pregnancies don't happen to women that are careful or responsible. this is so not true. you can be on the pill but still get pregnant."

amen to this one...... my only pregnancy that i was not on some form of bc resulted in fraternal twins. 2 preg. with iud (miscarried both), 1 with diaphragm with double the spermacide (miscarried) and the pill which i faithfully took at 8am....i managed to carry that one.....

........."misguided idea that plan b will lead to promiscuity and std's. this is a scare tactic by the religious right and how sad that many people get sucked in by it...."

the religious right love to use such scare tactics.....

"also, if someone is so irresponsible as to use plan b as a primary method of bc, would you really want this person giving birth to and raising a child?

amen to that one too...... i'm not for abortion though i know it has its place (at age 19 or so, i did not realize iud's were like early abortions). we just really need to accept responsibility for our actions. as strang as this may sound..... our gene pool does seem to need some work in some areas....

I personally think its about time this became OTC for women. However, do yall know that all the morning after pill is mega doses of BCP's. There are websites that you can look up that tell you how many pills of what type of pill to take. There is a whole list with all kinds of BCP's on it. This is nothing new, its just most women didnt know this info was avaible. I would much rather see a woman using the morning after pill than having a back alley abortion.

I'm curious about the idea that PlanB induces abortion through not allowing a fertalized egg to implant. From what I read it seems as though PlanB first tries to prevent fertalization, but when that doesn't happen has the mechanism to prevent implantation. Isn't this the same thing as oral contraceptives?

When fertalization occurs both prevent implantation. With PlanB there is just a higher chance that fertalization has occurred.

Plan B is different from BCPs because BCPs prevent ovulation. No ovulation = no egg. BCPs basically trick the body into thinking it's pregnant. No egg means no fertilization at all. With plan B it first tries to block fertilization and then later implantation, but there is an egg present.

I'm not "flaming" anyone. It seems to me that we ALL have our opinions on what other women should do/not do with their bodies. And we are ALL entitled to them.

Actually, what I do with my body is none of your business. It never will be either.

I see that you want to work in OB? When I worked in L&D, our unit (like a lot of units) performed induced ABs on babies under 20 weeks. How will you handle working in this situation? Now these babies were all induced for medical reasons, but none the less, it's an abortion on a baby. What about withdrawing care from a premie? Will you be able to separate your beliefs from those situations?

Like a PP brought up, I wonder how Pro-lifers feel about the half million embies that are frozen right now? Am I a sinner because I want to produce more embies than I could ever use?

"Plan B is not abortion. It works much like an IUD-that is, keeps the egg from implanting in the uterus."

Not preaching here....I have my own unresolved issues about abortion....but to Catholics and other Pro-life groups, anything that prevents implantation of a fertilized ovum (including IUD's) is most definitely abortion. To many, life begins at conception.

Just throwing this into the mix. We deal with many different belief systems, and just as we strive to respect Jehovah Witness's beliefs about blood transfusions, we need to understand what Pro-lifers believe, and to respect it.

So yes, while Plan B may or may not be a good thing, we need to acknowedge that it is considered to be a form of abortion to many.

What does concern me, and what I have been unable to find an answer to is this: Will men over the age of 18 be allowed to purchase Plan B? If so, I am concerned about the potential for older men to abuse young girls and then give them Plan B to prevent possible pregnancy.

Bingo ...I dont think it should be sold to men, period, ever.

"Isn't this the same thing as oral contraceptives?"

Combined OC work primarily by preventing ovulation, but the "mini-pill" (progesterone only) prevent implantation of an ovum.

I'm not "flaming" anyone. It seems to me that we ALL have our opinions on what other women should do/not do with their bodies. And we are ALL entitled to them.

A few things here:

1) It seems to me that alot of women who are pro-choice don't have an opinion on what other women should do or not do with their bodies because they want other women to have a choice even if it's a choice they wouldn't make for themselves because they don't know that person's medical history, financial state, or life's circumstances. They seem to trust that other women know what's best for themselves. It's usually the other way around with more conservative people who generally seem to be hung up on other's behavior or possible behavior.

2) It's disturbing to me that women want to judge other women. I can't believe any woman would argue that she should be entitled to have an opinion on what another woman does with her body because I would think we'd all be sick to death of hearing about what everyone wants us to do with our bodies. Aren't we all sick of people who try to make us feel guilty because we aren't doing exactly what they do? Because I *AM* sick to death of it. In fact, I'd say I am disgusted by it. I would never pretend to know what is best for another human being who is a complete stranger or almost stranger to me and if I did have an opinion I'm sure they wouldn't care what I thought about their lives. I know I don't care what others think I should do since others are rarely thinking about what's actually in my best interest or what is best overall for me.

You can never have any discussion on women's reproductive lives or any aspect of their lives without having a serious, heated debate. Why do people get so nosy and emotional over women's bodies and pretty much everything women do? Look at the debates about breastfeeding, sexuality, childcare, mothers in the workplace, and birth control. It's disgusting to me. Why can't we leave each other alone or atleast be more open-minded and supportive of each other? And all judging other women does is give off the message that others must make decisions for women because they are either too stupid, immature, or just plain incapable of making decisions on what is best for themselves. How can anyone not be disgusted by that?