Issue date: 10/5/06 Section: Opinion

Imagine the panic that sets in after that condom breaks, and you or your girlfriend has missed her birth control.

We are all in college and for most of us, a baby is just not in our daily planner. These little mishaps, if not taken care of, one way or another, could nine months down the road turn into a little bundle of joy. Now, making sure that even when one form of birth control fails, you have a Plan B is even easier.

Plan B, the emergency contraception pill commonly known as the "morning-after pill," is now available over the counter. Previously, the only way that women could access this fail-safe was with a doctor's approval and with a written prescription.

Ladies, think about going to your gynecologist or regular family doctor. It can be an awkward situation for us to talk about our bodies and our sex lives. Except, if you need Plan B, you now have to tell this doctor that you have not taken every precaution possible. You are now able to avoid this situation completely

I see the availability of Plan B as an over-the-counter medicine as a universal good. More people will be likely to use this backup birth control method because they will be able to avoid the awkward visit to the doctor.

However, there are many who disagree with the increased availability of Plan B, and there are some who do not believe that Plan B should even be in existence. They believe that the morning-after pill is immoral because it is destroying a potential human life. I think that their dissent is uncalled for because a human life, in my eyes, does not technically exist yet.

Beyond this, Plan B is not an abortion. It does not end a pregnancy already in progress, but simply prevents a pregnancy from occurring. Therefore, using this type of logic, if there is not a pregnancy, then there is not human life and, at least in my view, there is absolutely no harm done by using Plan B.

Plan B is like a condom, diaphragm or typical birth control pill. These are all used, seemingly without a moral issue, by thousands if not millions of people every year. It contains the same exact hormones as the everyday Yasmin or Ortho Tri-Cyclen birth control pill. The hormones in Plan B are just in higher doses.

While Plan B is not to be used as a regular method of birth control, it can definitely help prevent an unwanted pregnancy, or an unnecessary abortion down the road. As college students, we have bills to pay, classes to attend and lives to live. A bassinette, endless diapers and 6:00 a.m. feedings may not fit into the ideas we have for our lives at this point.

Safe sex is important, and should always be practiced. However just in case something goes wrong, having Plan B available over the counter will make it easier for us to prevent that bundle of joy from appearing.

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