When other methods fail, women use Plan B to prevent unwanted pregnancies.
By Breia Brissey
It’s New Year’s Eve, and OU sophomore Brooke Homer is celebrating like most college students would—with alcohol. After consuming about seven to 10 mixed drinks, she lost count, Brooke heads back home.
But she isn’t alone. A guy she met earlier in the semester texted her and asked to come over. She agrees.
One thing leads to another, and they end up in bed together. They have unprotected sex. Welcome, 2010.
Brooke woke up the next morning and processed the events of the night before.
“I woke up, and it just hit me,” she said. “He didn’t use a condom, and I was freaking out.”
Homer sent a text message to a good friend and asked her what to do. The friend recommended she go to a local pharmacy and get Plan B, an emergency contraceptive pill, immediately.
“At first I really didn’t think it was necessary,” Homer said. “But after a few friends said it would be a good idea, I went to get it right away.”
She went to a local pharmacy and purchased a generic form of the drug for about $40.
Homer’s New Year’s Eve story is not unlike other tales of drunken one-night stands. In fact, according to 2009 data released by Teva Pharmaceuticals, the makers of the drug Plan B, sales of emergency contraceptives more than double in the days following Dec. 31.
And one look at the popular Web site, TextsFromLastNight.com, shows that the use of Plan B is fairly common. Comments like “Just bought Plan B with a coupon” and “ Plan B is the new plan A” and “it feels good to walk into a CVS and not go straight to the pharmacy counter for Plan B” appear frequently on the site.
According to the Back Up Your Birth Control campaign, Plan B, also referred to as the “morning-after pill,” can help prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex.
The Food and Drug Administration-approved drug can be taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex. Some research has shown that it can be effective up to 120 hours, or five days, after intercourse.
The campaign says that, when used correctly, emergency contraception pills can reduce the risk of pregnancy by 89 percent.
Emergency contraception works the same way regular birth control pills do by “delaying or inhibiting ovulation, inhibiting fertilization or preventing implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterus,” according to the BUYPC campaign.
Dr. David Powell, a OB/GYN in Tulsa, Okla., said the dosage of Plan B changes the lining of the uterus so an embryo cannot implant. Instead, the embryo will just flush out. He also said that the dosage of Plan B can sometimes interfere with ovulation or change a woman’s menstrual period.
Access to Plan B is easier than ever since a federal ruling last March that required the FDA make Plan B, and its generic forms, available to women and men as young as 17 without a prescription. Girls younger than 17 have to have a prescription to obtain the drug. Previously, the drug was only available to people 18 and older.
Rebecca Kraus, a pharmacist at a Norman Walgreens, said it’s extremely common for young women to purchase Plan B, or its generic form, especially since it’s available without a prescription.
“We have quite a few repeat users, and I think it’s almost as common as birth control,” Kraus said. “It’s almost like it’s the newest form of birth control.”
Maybe Plan B really has become the new Plan A.
But Janette Cline, an educator with the Oklahoma State Department of Health, makes it clear that Plan B is not a form of birth control and should only be used as a backup method.
As a part of the 2009 Family Planning Program, the Oklahoma State Department of Health distributed 1,015 emergency contraceptives to female users, but also distributed upward of 60,000 other forms of birth control.
Kristin Hurd, an office manager for a Norman OB/GYN office, said it’s not as common for patients to visit the doctor with questions about Plan B because the drug is now available over the counter. But she said the office does get occasional calls.
“If a patient calls and had unprotected sex, we usually talk about Plan B as a possible solution to the problem,” Hurd said. “But most patients deal with it on their own these days.”
Despite its increasing use, Plan B remains somewhat controversial. Dr. Powell does not prescribe Plan B because of his definition of abortion.
“It’s encouraging irresponsible behavior,” he said. “People can just take the easy way out, and in essence it’s an abortion.”
But emergency contraceptive advocates claim that Plan B is not the same thing as the “abortion pill,” Mifeprex, or RU-486.
Dr. Powell said that even though he chooses not to prescribe Plan B, there isn’t a lot of discussion about the controversy of whether Plan B is good or bad.
“It’s not really publicized. It’s usually a word of mouth sort of thing,” Dr. Powell said. “And so people just accept the marketing claims. So some doctors don’t have any problems prescribing it.”
Even though Dr. Powell points out some controversy with the drug, most advocates agree Plan B is the best option for most people. The BUYBC campaign hopes to eliminate all limitations on the drug eventually so Plan B can be available to everyone.
But regardless of controversy, many young women are glad to have a mostly effective back-up option.
In Brooke Homer’s case, she wasn’t proud she had to get Plan B, but she was glad she had a chance to rectify a drunken mistake.
“I don’t think I’ll have to use [Plan B] again. I would think about it, and want to be safe,” Homer said. “I would use it again if I had to, but I don’t think it will ever come to that.”
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