Emergency contraception must be available.

Byline: GUEST VIEWPOINT By Marilyn Helton and Barbara Arnold For The Register-Guard

Imagine you are raped or your contraception fails - for instance, your partner's condom breaks. Frantic, you know that you have only a limited amount of time to obtain emergency contraception. But you need a prescription, and it's the weekend or a holiday, and your doctor's office is closed. Meanwhile, time is passing quickly, and soon it will be too late.

On Tuesday, a joint hearing of the Food and Drug Administration's Nonprescription Drugs Committee and its Reproductive Health Drugs Advisory Committee considered whether Plan B, a type of emergency contraception, should be available over the counter.

Research indicates that widespread availability of emergency contraception could prevent 1.7 million unintended pregnancies and 800,000 abortions each year in the United States.

But there is a danger that ideological claims by anti-choice people may influence what should be an objective scientific process.

Emergency contraception meets all customary FDA requirements for over-the-counter use: It is safe, there is no potential for overdose or addiction, no medical screening is necessary, the need it fills can be self-diagnosed, the dosage is uniform, and it has no important drug interactions. Contrary to the claims of some extremists, it is not an abortifacient, and it does not interfere with an existing pregnancy.

Emergency contraception pills are a special combination of birth control pills that reduce the risk of pregnancy when started within 120 hours of unprotected intercourse. The sooner emergency contraception is administered, the better it works, making timely access critically important. In cases of contraceptive failure or in cases of rape or incest, emergency contraception is the best way to avoid pregnancy. It greatly reduces the need for abortion, something everyone should support.

Currently, emergency contraception requires a prescription. And during the weekend or evening hours, when demand for emergency contraception is highest, most doctors' offices are closed. Even when a woman obtains a prescription, she may have difficulty filling it. One survey of pharmacists in Pennsylvania revealed that only 35 percent stocked emergency contraception pills. Worse, 6 percent said that providing emergency contraception was against store policy, and 7 percent claimed dispensing the drug conflicted with their personal beliefs.

Women seeking emergency contraception are often dependent on clinicians or pharmacists who are ignorant about the nature of the drug. In a telephone survey of 300 state pharmacists conducted by Planned Parenthood of Connecticut in the summer of 2003, nearly half believed that emergency contraception causes an abortion.

Such prejudice and ignorance can have devastating consequences for women. But these obstacles would be removed if emergency contraception were available over the counter. That is why virtually all major medical and health care organizations, including the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, support the switch.

Emergency contraception is available without a prescription in more than 25 countries, including Denmark, France, Israel, South Africa, Sweden and the United Kingdom. Evidence shows that women use it responsibly. In fact, a study published in the medical journal Contraception in 2003 found that using emergency contraception actually increased responsible use of regular contraceptive methods.

Government oversight of medicine is meant to protect and enhance public health, and improved access to emergency contraception does just that. The FDA should move quickly to expand the availability of emergency contraception nationwide.

Marilyn Helton and Barbara Arnold, R.N., are co-directors of patient services for Planned Parenthood Health Services of Southwestern Oregon.