There's Got to Be a Morning After

Can't you just hear Maureen McGovern singing that theme song from The Poseidon Adventure as the FDA today approved the "morning after" pill for non-prescription use:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Women may buy the morning-after pill without a prescription - but only with proof they're 18 or older, federal health officials ruled Thursday, capping a contentious three-year effort to ease access to the emergency contraceptive.

Girls 17 and younger still will need a doctor's note to buy the pills, called Plan B, the Food and Drug Administration told manufacturer Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc. (BRL)
The compromise decision is a partial victory for women's advocacy and medical groups that say eliminating sales restrictions could cut in half the nation's 3 million annual unplanned pregnancies. Opponents have argued that wider access could increase promiscuity.

The pills are a concentrated dose of the same drug found in many regular birth-control pills. When a woman takes the pills within 72 hours of unprotected sex, she can lower the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 percent. If she already is pregnant, the pills have no effect.

And in an interesting bit of political extortion, Sens. Patti Murray and Hillary Clinton removed holds they had placed on the new FDA chief nominee. Had he not approved this drug as required by Murray and Clinton, he would not have had a Senate hearing.

A lot of people on the right are pretty upset about this. I'm not so sure. I'm a little agnostic on the subject of this particular pill. The argument seems to be that there will be a lot more promiscuity as a result. I doubt it. It's not like there haven't been plenty of other ways available to avoid pregnancy. And really, how much more promiscuity could there be?

And when it comes down to it, what would you rather have happen? Someone using this pill, or an abortion a month or two later?