Vermont law allows minors access to morning-after pill
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Associated Press - Published: August 26, 2006
MONTPELIER — Vermont minors will continue to be able to get the emergency contraceptive Plan B without a prescription, despite a Food and Drug Administration ruling to the contrary, a Planned Parenthood executive said Friday.
The FDA ruled on Thursday that Plan B, also known as "the morning-after pill," can be sold to women 18 and older without a prescription, but women 17 and younger must still get a doctor's prescription to get the drug.
Nancy Mosher, president and chief executive of Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, said Vermont legislation passed this year set up a third track for acquiring the drug, aside from getting a doctor's prescription or purchasing medicine over the counter.
The bill set up a "collaborative practice" process allowing pharmacists who receive special training to dispense Plan B to women without a prescription. Physicians would issue the pharmacists "standing orders" allowing them to dispense the medication to women who fill out a health screening questionnaire.
Mosher said the FDA ruling means the Vermont law no longer will apply to women 18 and older. Instead, they can go with the FDA ruling allowing them to buy Plan B over the counter.
Vermonters 17 and younger, unlike their peers elsewhere in the country, will be able to get the drug without a prescription by taking advantage of Vermont's new law, she said.
Mosher said Planned Parenthood had distributed Plan B more than 82,000 times since 2000. "We encourage women to have one in their medicine cabinet in case they have an emergency."
If a woman takes Plan B within 72 hours of unprotected sex, she can lower the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 percent. Plan B is different from the abortion pill, RU-486. RU-486, taken in conjunction with another drug, causes an abortion; Plan B prevents a pregnancy from happening. If a woman already is pregnant, Plan B has no effect.
State Rep. Harry Chen, D-Mendon, a physician who co-sponsored the bill, said the new law Vermont law had not been implemented yet because rules governing how it will operate had not yet been written.
"It's very straightforward," Chen said. "This is a very safe medication. It's over-the-counter in many other countries already."
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