Contributing Editor Koan Bremner also blogs at Multidimensional.Me

Any story which touches on reproductive rights is guaranteed to generate strong emotions - and the new campaign by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is no exception. The campaign, called "Ask Me", is a prescription-writing campaign for Plan B (or the morning-after pill, or emergency contraception). An excellent column at USNews.com by Bernadine Healy examines some of the issues, and quotes Vivian Dickerson, former President of ACOG, who justifies the campaign because of the:

despicable treatment of women at the hands of the FDA

The thinking behind the campaign is simple - since Plan B contraception is only effective if taken within 72 hours, any woman seeking it previously needed to obtain a prescription, *and* find a pharmacist willing to fill the prescription. Under "Ask Me", a woman can ask for a prescription in advance - even have the prescription dispensed in advance - and thus have the contraceptive on hand in case of need.

Of course, women bloggers have been quick to comment on this campaign. At "Pandagon", Amanda Marcotte was quick to point out the main driver behind the campaign:

With theocrats trying to get positions in pharmacies and theocrats running our FDA and illegally delaying the approval the drug for over-the-counter sales, women have to realize that there's an active conspiracy against us to stall us if we need the drugs in hopes that we ovulate before we get it and get pregnant against our will.

A post at "Feministe" counters a particularly alarmist piece, with humour and wit:

Emergency contraception doesn't do jack to "help women who are harboring regret." No, it doesn't get rid of regret, or exhaustion, or frustration because you didn't orgasm. But it can do a pretty dandy job of keeping you un-pregnant. Which is, you know, what it's made for.

As for "killing a child," no, dear, no real medical experts say that. None. Zero. There are some medical experts who point out that emergency contraception may prevent a fertilized egg implanting in the uterine wall, and apparently there are "medical experts" who claim that the embryo is killed in utero. That's just not the case, since emergency contraception does nothing to terminate a pregnancy or harm an embryo. I'll bet if I looked hard enough, I could find someone who would claim to be a medical expert and tell me in all sincerity that babies are delivered via stork. I just wouldn't trust him enough to quote him in my column. The idea that EC kills a child in the womb is just about as reliable as the stork theory.

You can find a link to the other article in that post. In looking for women bloggers opposed to the ACOG campaign, I was pointed to Norma at "Collecting my Thoughts", who writes in this post:

I wonder how many of the doctors, ad agency employees and maybe you, the reader here, were the result of an "accident" or unintended conception. Fortunately, many of us were conceived in a kinder, gentler more humanistic era--like the Great Depression or WWII. Possibly our parents weren't thrilled, but soon learned to love us and make do.

Other blogs following the story include "Pam's House Blend" in this post, and my candidate for best post title, "Let Pious Pharmacists Become Data Entry Clerks or Waste Collectors" at "Cut to the Chase". Because, as Bernadine Healy wrote in the USNews.com column:

Those pharmacies unwilling to dispense the morning-after pill should be mandated to post some version of the "accidents happen" poster, with the caveat "but some other pharmacy will have to help you if you want Plan B." And individual pharmacists who refuse to fill such prescriptions should wear buttons that say simply, "Don't ask."

I'll leave the last word on this post to a commenter on the previously-mentioned post at Pandagon:

As the old bumper sticker says, "if you're against abortiondon't have one." It's really that simple. Allow other people their reproductive freedom and control, and you can have yours, and we will all do what we believe is right for our own bodies.

Blog: Multidimensional.Me