More on the Plan B debacle
Because I’m still just so fucking furious.
Egalia has an excellent round-up of the reactions, very much worth reviewing: Round-Up: Obama Betrays Women & Science Over Plan B Birth Control.
I particularly want to call attention to the editorial in the Washington Post:
Indeed, the administration’s decision will decrease access for all women, because the medication will continue to be kept behind the pharmacy counter so that the age of the buyer can be verified. As a result, access will be limited to hours when the pharmacy is open. That does not constitute common sense.
Not only will you still have to see the pharmacist, but you’ll also still have to show a picture ID. It’s so fucking patronizing and insulting and paternalistic, it makes me want to scream. Can you imagine if men had to talk to a pharmacist and show a picture ID in order to buy condoms? Can you imagine if boys under the age of 17 couldn’t buy condoms without a prescription?
I think it’s fair to say that at this point my contempt for the Obama Administration knows no bounds.
If Obama were a Republican (I mean an official acknowledged Republican with a party membership card and all that, as opposed to the crypto-Republican he so obviously is), our female Democrats in Washington would be up in arms. Instead we get this: Plan B Aftermath: Democratic Women In Congress Go Easy On Obama. The desolation in this paragraph kills me:
Aides to pro-choice women in the Senate who are typically responsive were mostly silent throughout the day. The Huffington Post contacted 13 such offices and received only two responses, statements from Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). Two Democratic aides said Murray’s office was taking the lead on responding, and her office confirmed that the senator would be writing a letter asking the administration for more information on the decision.
Meanwhile, the handful of Obama apologists still left in the tubes are making their faint squeaking noises. I’m not going to link to any of it, because, bullshit. In addition to the chess people (“Obama will overturn this as soon as he’s re-elected!”) and the Wingnut Appeasement Squad (“The Republicans forced this move on Obama!”) and the President Who? team (“Goddamn that Sebelius!”), there are the usual attempts to blame “us” rather than Obama — “us” being feminists and liberals. One clown says this is “our fault” for not turning out in sufficient numbers to vote Democrat in the 2010 mid-terms. Another clown says this is “our fault” for not making a strong public case for the joys of teenage sex. Then there’s the clown who says this is “our fault” for not adequately lobbying for Plan B, which is fucking hilarious considering the history.
Even worse are the Obama apologists—Democrats, presumably—who are nodding along with the President’s “wisdom.” Good move, they say; makes sense. The Overton Window is now somewhere in the Andromeda Galaxy.
God, I’m so sick of this.
18 Responses to “More on the Plan B debacle”
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jjmtacoma says:
Somebody posted the need for ID – are the pharmacies tracking the women who use Plan B? Is it like Sudafed where you have to register to get cold medicine?
So women are subject to using the pharmacy during regular working hours (no sneaking in – so they risk the shame of neighbors observing and sharing). This move means Plan B will also be subject to “conscience rules” possibly requiring running all over hell to get something simple that should also be private. Yes, this just makes me mad.
December 10th, 2011 at 8:52 pm EST -
lynnerkat says:
I am beyond done.
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Violet Socks says:
This is what Obama thinks is “common sense.” It’s just “common sense” for a grown woman to have to show her driver’s license to a pharmacist during business hours in order to get contraception—and that’s assuming the damn pharmacy even stocks this stuff. Men can buy condoms anywhere, but women must continue to drive around and seek out friendly pharmacists, go to the window for the chat, show the picture ID. (I was being carded for alcohol into my 30s, by the way.)
This is “common sense” says Obama. Because women are just cognitive subhumans who have to be controlled I guess.
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Carmonn says:
I can’t believe how many largeish blogs haven’t bothered to mention this at all. I wasn’t expecting much, I thought it would mostly be along the lines of the Clown #2 or possibly “We have to treat women like subhumans or else Republicans will be motivated to flood the polls,” but I wasn’t expecting complete silence.
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bluelyon says:
@4 – I left a message at Maddow’s blog asking if by any chance she was planning on addressing this.
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No Blood for Hubris says:
I hate to be so UN-group-y but I disagree. I have seen (recently) ppl use these drugs in a way that I think is really not ok, way too often, without planning ahead. There should be emergency remedies. There should be ongoing contraception. Emergency should not replace ongoing.
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Violet Socks says:
I have seen (recently) ppl use these drugs in a way that I think is really not ok, way too often, without planning ahead.
Who put you in charge of other people’s bodies?
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Unree says:
You know what I think is just “common sense”? Anything Plan B can do to the body, pregnancy can do worse.
In other words, Plan B is dangerous only if “ppl” swallow it for shits and giggles, without having been ejaculated into. Because of its high price and high odds of shame, that’s not going to happen. Or at worst it’s a VERY trivial risk compared to the danger of overdosing on Tylenol (no hassle to buy) or filling a condom (ditto) with cocaine and swallowing it.
Common sense, my ass. Ditch this crudhead president. Primary him or defeat him in the general election: bring on a card-carrying Republican against whom opponents can unite.
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Violet Socks says:
If Plan B needs to be prescription-only for people under 17, then we need to do the same with Tylenol, Advil, Benadryl, Nyquil, Robitussin, and in fact just about everything currently on the drugstore shelf. The cold medicines and pain relievers are all vastly more dangerous than Plan B, which is amazingly safe (there have never been any fatalities or even serious side effects in all the countries where Plan B is available over the counter). And any pharmaceutical, no matter how innocuous, can be misused by children. Or by anybody, for that matter.
So: if Plan B, which is safe and simple as pie, is the new benchmark for danger, then everything on the drugstore shelf needs to be locked up behind the pharmacist’s window.
I’d like to see people go one day with that shit. I want people to have to go to the pharmacy and show a picture ID to buy Tylenol. I want people to have to go the pharmacy window during business hours and show a driver’s license in order to buy some Advil.
And this is the bullshit that is foisted on women constantly, endlessly. Endless phony crap about how “dangerous” it is and how we need to be lectured to and controlled and counseled.
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Sameol says:
You could always let these people know of your concern, that way, they could decide whether they actually care what you think is or is not okay, or not, and adjust their behavior accordingly.
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cellocat says:
My favorite is the argument that taking off the age limit empowers rapists and abusers to get away with it, because they can just haul their victim off to the drugstore and stuff her full of Plan B, no questions asked.
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Carmonn says:
Just for shits and giggles, here’s a link to a Union of Concerned Scientists summary, with primary source footnotes.
Anyone can read through the source materials and confirm that the CDER did anticipate and address most of the arguments already. Not that it helped, obviously.
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Nessum says:
[Violet, please feel free to delete this comment, as I'm way off topic, I just wanted you to se this: The acceptance speech by one of the three women (of course it takes three women to make up for one man, sigh) being awarded this year's Nobel Peace Prize, Tawakkul Karman. She's also the youngest recipient of the prize ever.]
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myiq2xu says:
Katha Pollitt now:
Who died and made Barack Obama daddy in charge of teenage girls?
She did. Here’s what Katha Pollitt said re: Stupak-Pitts:
Women Democrats have taken an awful lot of hits for the team lately. Many of us didn’t vote for Hillary Clinton in the primary because the goal of electing a woman seemed less important than the goal of electing the best possible president.
How much you want to bet that next years she tells us to vote for Obama because the Republicans are worse™?
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Sameol says:
A lot of Pollitt’s writings about the election were awful, but even before 2008 Nation writers were complaining about how much the editors were leaning on them to always support certain candidates, usually the Democrat over the Green. I can only imagine the pressure put on the one token feminist to support the Holy of Holies. Remember those “Women For Obama” bumperstickers? I don’t condone the ridiculous things she said, but I do get that being an out-and-proud Hillary supporter in her circles would have been pretty uncomfortable.
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justmesayin' says:
I think I’m gonna go stock up on some Plan B and let all the local teenage girls know that anyone underage can get it at my house.
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bluelyon says:
Turns out that Rachel did cover it, but I must have blinked, because I missed it.
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Penelope says:
You have to show an ID to get Ibuprofen in Hong Kong and most drugs really, and most countries have you consult with the pharmacist and then you are given the drugs. Usually discreetly and it’s really not so bad, but you never have to show an ID or prove that you are old enough they just talk to you about your condition and situation and make sure that you are doing what is right for your body. We need more of that in this country, no one should be pumping their bodies full of any kinds of crazy chemicals on a whim, but they certainly should not be denied healthcare because they are young. Furthermore, if we just made birth control over the counter, this whole Plan B thing would be half the problem that it is today!
