Plan B Dangers Pose An Unknown Threat to Women

July 31, 2009 - PRLog -- Enmeshed in controversy during its extensive FDA hearings, the Plan B birth control pill today looms as a potential nightmare for possible health risks, especially among younger women.
“I was concerned about 10, 11, 12-year-old girls buying this product,” David Hager, a gynecologist from Lexington, Ky., told CBS News concerning the issue. “I’m saying that it is possible that with the use of Plan B the individual may put herself at greater risk."
Hager, who testified about the drug at the FDA hearings, is one of many critics who point to various dangers of the drug, released in 2006, whose effects are not yet fully known. On April 22, the FDA, responding to a March 23 court order, lowered the age for over-the-counter sales from 18 to 17. At the same time that the age was lowered, the FDA allowed the drug to be taken in a single dose instead of in two dosages.
Initially advertised as “emergency contraception,” Plan B's dosage as a single pill is 10 times higher than that of normal oral contraceptives. The pill uses the same hormones as oral contraceptives that have been taken on a daily basis since their availability since the 1960’s, the safety of which been called into question by many experts.
Pregnancy counselors are seeing many women taking the more powerful Plan B not just occasionally, but several times per year. Largely unregulated, since it does not require a prescription by a doctor, Plan B, distributed by Duramed Pharmaceuticals, is also being obtained by underage teenage girls who get it from their older friends.
Duramed admits on its website that the product could cause “nausea, abdominal pain, fatigue, headache, changes in one’s period, dizziness, and breast tenderness.”
Furthermore, if a woman is already pregnant for a number of days when she has intercourse and then takes Plan B, the drug will not end the pregnancy. The fetus is therefore subject to deformity and the woman risks health problems. Duramed says, “If you have severe abdominal pain, you may have an ectopic pregnancy [outside the womb], and should get immediate medical attention.”
Women in Berwyn, Cicero, N. Riverside, Stickney, LaGrange, and other western Chicago suburbs can find out about the side effects and advisability of Plan B by calling WomanCare Services at 708-795-6000. Read complete story at http://www.womancare.org/90730_plan-b-birth-control-poses...

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WomanCare Services, of Berwyn, IL provides help to women with unexpected pregnancies. Our consultations are confidential. Call 708-795-6000. Or go to http://www.womancare.org.