Imagine a pill that is one of the best forms of emergency contraception available, has very few side effects, is non-addictive and may become an over-the-counter drug soon. However, the Food and Drug Administration did not approve this drug last year.

The FDA is now reconsidering its original decision to ban the emergency contraception, ‘Plan B,’ pill from being sold over-the-counter in pharmacies. The FDA will hold a hearing for Barr Pharmaceuticals today. A new decision should be reached within the next week.

Barr Pharmaceuticals, the company that makes Plan B, has been trying for the past year to overturn the FDA’s earlier decision to keep the morning-after contraceptive, Levonorgestrel, a prescription drug.

‘Plan B acts as an emergency contraceptive by both preventing the fertilization of an egg (and) keeping a fertilized egg from attaching itself to the uterus walls,’ said Kathy Van Vechten, director of nursing with Syracuse University Health Services.

Plan B is 89 percent effective in preventing a pregnancy with a woman who has engaged in unprotected sexual intercourse. If it is taken within 72 hours, it is 75 percent more likely to keep a woman from becoming pregnant. The sooner the pill is taken, the better the chance that it will prevent pregnancy, Van Vechten said.

According to Van Vechten, in order to receive the pill at Health Services, a woman must first make an appointment and then fill out a medical questionnaire. Health Services does not prescribe Plan B to everyone that makes an appointment because the side effects of the pill become more severe in those with blood clots, heart problems, kidney disease, hypertension, diabetes, seizures, stroke, breast cancer, or other reproductive organ cancers.

The side effects, such as nausea, headaches, dizziness, tenderness of the breasts and bloating, are normally mild. In addition, a change in the next menstruation cycle may occur, Van Vechten said.

‘Anywhere from five to 15 people a week come into the campus Health Services and ask for the pill,’ Van Vechten said.

Many controversial issues are associated with Plan B as an over-the-counter drug. The Planned Parenthood of the Rochester/Syracuse area said that many people believe emergency contraception is an ‘abortion pill’ that kills a newly conceived egg. The pill, however, does not kill the egg; it prevents the egg from attaching to the uterus and lets it pass out through menstruation. Often, a fertilized egg will pass through the uterus during menstruation naturally, without the woman ever noticing. Once a fertilized egg attaches itself to the uterus wall, however, no form of birth control, even Plan B could help.

If the pill were to become an over-the-counter drug, it would be more accessible to those who might not be educated about the decisions they make and will be more likely to put themselves at risk, a representative with Planned Parenthood said.

‘If the pill (Plan B) becomes an over-the-counter drug, it may make some people less discrete when making their decision on whether or not to have unprotected sex if they think that they can just fix it afterward,’ said Bryan Connor, a freshman majoring in biology. ‘However, I think that if a situation comes up where you couldn’t predict a condom breaking or being drunk that it might be alright.’

Those who advocate Plan B becoming an over-the-counter drug say that the accessibility would prevent more possible abortions from occurring, a representative with Planned Parenthood said.

Plan B should not be used as a primary form of birth control, Van Vechten said. It contains a high amount of estrogen and comes in 100 milligram oral tablets, whereas a birth control pill is half the dosage, and should be taken every 12 hours.

As an over-the-counter drug Plan B would be available to women over the age of 16. Those under 16 would need a prescription.

Published on January 19, 2005 at 12:00 pm