The FDA is asking for public input about possible approval of "Plan B," the newer morning after pill. You can leave a comment here.
I’m convinced that little good can come from discussions of the whole abortion issue anymore, so I’m about to break my own rule here. The act of abortion itself stirs something in my gut that, honestly, makes me want to believe it is wrong.
The insistence of a "right" to an abortion as it is usually insisted upon is troublingly adolescent, however you feel about the merits of that right. This is outweighed, however, for me, by another gut stirring consideration: the prospect of desperate do-it-yourself abortions.
It also seems commonsensical to me that human life begins at viability, which the pediatric end-of-life ethicists I know tell me begins around 24 to 28 weeks. Ninety-nine percent of abortions occur before twenty-one weeks. In fact, more than half happen before nine weeks, and almost 90% before the first trimester.
Contrary to popular knowledge Roe v. Wade makes abortions after the first trimester a state issue. So if abortions after then happen at a clinic near you, it is because your state government allows it. Similarly, Roe v. Wade requires that states allow abortions between the first trimester an viability for the health of the mother, which accounts for only 10% of all abortions. The notion that Roe v. Wade allows for some sort of abortion free-for-all is simply a lie, one propogated by both sides.
Because of my gut check, I agree with Hillary Clinton that abortion should be "safe, legal and rare." If over half of all abortions happen before nine weeks (presumably as soon folks find out they’re pregnant), then it seems safe to venture that the affordable, over-the-counter availability of Plan B would eliminate the need for many, many abortions.
That represents a significant savings in money and anguish. Those who worry Plan B would become an easy way to be easy need, first of all, to learn to mind their own business. But setting the price point somewhere between birth control and an abortion (say, around or less than the cost of nicotene gum), should alleviate those fears.
