Plan B and imaginary teen sex cults

By Chris Nolan
Posted on April 27, 2006, Printed on February 13, 2012
http://www.alternet.org/story/35532/plan_b_and_imaginary_teen_sex_cults

Why can't American women have the emergency contraceptive Plan B over-the-counter? Three words: "Teen sex cults." Actually, four words: "Mythical teen sex cults."

A group of New York women is suing the FDA for Plan B, OTC. Here's one of the documents that came up in discovery:

In the memo released by the FDA, Dr. Curtis Rosebraugh, an agency medical officer, wrote: “As an example, she [deputy operations commissioner Woodcock] stated that we could not anticipate, or prevent extreme promiscuous behaviors such as the medication taking on an ‘urban legend’ status that would lead adolescents to form sex-based cults centered around the use of Plan B.” [Newsweek]

Lindsay Beyerstein a New York writer blogging at Majikthise.

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View this story online at: http://www.alternet.org/story/35532/