Plan B - over the counter and off the deep end

Charlie Butts - OneNewsNow

Parents should be furious that a federal agency is putting their minor daughters at great health risk. That's one reaction to a recent ruling on the "morning-after" pill. The "morning-after" pill is to be sold, without prescription, to minors as young as 17. The Food and Drug Administration issued the order after one New York federal judge ruled along the same line. Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, is livid.

http://www.onenewsnow.com/Politics/Default.aspx?id=501516

Pill linked with low-weight and premature babies

by Carolyn Moynihan

Women who get pregnant within a few weeks of taking birth control pills seem much more likely to have low-weight or premature babies, a new Canadian study indicates. The study does not definitively prove a cause and effect relationship and needs to be confirmed by more research, says lead investigator Xi-Kuan Chen, an epidemiologist at the University of Ottawa. However, babies with low birth weight or who are born prematurely are a growing problem and the cause is not always clear.

The researchers used comprehensive Canadian databases to distinguish three groups of women using oral contraceptives: those who had taken them within 30 days, 31-60 days, and 61-90 days of their last period before getting pregnant -- 1500 in all. They were compared to 6100 women who had not used birth control pills for at least a year before they gave birth.

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/pill_linked_with_low_weight_and_premature_babies/#comments

FDA cracks down on pill’s lifestyle claims

Carolyn Moynihan

To some of us it may seem that the contraceptive pill has always promised too much. It’s chief claim, “99 per cent effective in preventing pregnancy when taken as directed”, depends on reading all the fine print, knowing all your contra-indications and never missing a day. But how many women do all that? Even granted that it prevents pregnancy, many women have been disillusioned by side effects ranging from weight gain to cancer risks, and have given up taking the pill.

http://www.mercatornet.com/family_edge/fda_cracks_down_on_pills_lifestyle_claims/