Yesterday evening, the Tufts Women's Center, VOX, or Voices for Choice, and the Tufts Feminist Alliance hosted a discussion on Plan B, the emergency contraception (EC) drug.
About 25 students gathered in the Sophia Gordon conference room to listen and ask questions of Stacie Garnett, a spokeswoman for NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, and Kathy Savage, the Nurse Manager at Tufts Health Services.
VOX Co-president Andrea Cotie said that she hoped the meeting would provide information about a law that will soon dispense EC to men and women without a prescription.
Currently, EC is only available with a prescription, but "the new over the counter product should be available by the end of the year," according to Garnett. For women under 18, however, it will remain a prescription medication.
The age limit for the drug was a highly politicized factor in receiving FDA approval, the panelists said.
"The age limit the FDA imposed is not for any medical purposes," Garnett said. It "had much more to do with political power."
Savage discussed what Tufts is doing to provide EC to students. Health Services offers EC to students, and as Savage pointed out, "It's $10 here," but it costs "$36 at a pharmacy in Cambridge."
Students asked whether EC reacts poorly with any medications, Adderall and antibiotics being the two examples used. Apparently not, Savage, said.
"There is no mediation you could be on that would prevent you from taking EC," she said.
As for the cost of EC, Savage said that "insurance doesn't come into play for EC at Health Services," but Garnett added that "as a prescription, EC is covered by most insurance plans."
Garnett also noted that a current initiative of NARAL is "making sure EC is covered by Medicaid," which would make the medication much easier to obtain for lower-income women.
Students present also raised concerns that the possibility of being questioned at Health Services might prevent students who need EC from utilizing the cheaper on campus facilities. Savage addressed these concerns, saying, "I don't want you to think you'll be grilled every time you come in [to Health Services], because you won't."
The discussion also addressed factual information and common misconceptions about the drug. Plan B "works the same way as regular birth control pills."
"It prevents pregnancy by interfering with the fertilization of an egg, stopping ovulation, or in some cases preventing an egg from implanting itself on the walls of the uterus," Garnett said.
This statement sparked some controversy. Alison Hoover, Editor-in-Chief of The Primary Source, said that taking Plan B is tantamount to abortion and not simply birth control.
"I believe life begins at conception," Hoover said. "I have a moral issue with medication that could prevent a pregnancy by not allowing a fertilized egg to attach to a uterus' wall."
She added that this is "one of the greatest confusions" in the debate on providing EC over-the-counter at pharmacies.
The moral implications of taking a contraceptive were not deeply addressed by the panelists, however.
Cotie noted that increased ease of obtaining contraceptives does not reduce the importance of the decision to take one. "One of the big arguments is that [over-the-counter contraceptives] would be too casual...it needs to be paired with sexual education," she said.
Overall, the organizers felt that the event was a success. Although the turnout consisted almost entirely of women, Garnett said that this type of discussion is "usually pretty heavily female."
Additionally, the people who attend these talks are usually "the people who already care about the issue," Garnett said.
This does not worry Educational Coordinator of the Campus Violence Prevention Program Elaine Theodore, however. "These are the women who will be educating their peers," she said.
