Plan B, the emergency birth control contraceptive, has finally been released over the counter without a prescription, triggering an increase in sales and distribution, particularly on campus.
The amount of Plan B purchased by ASU students has more than doubled since it became available Nov. 1, said Dr. Stefanie Schroeder, chief of staff of the Campus Health Service.
"About 50 packages [of Plan B] have been purchased at the ASU pharmacy over the past week since the drug has come out," Schroeder said.
The Food and Drug Administration approved Plan B to be sold over the counter in August. The pill is a form of emergency birth control to be taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex.
Nonprescription Plan B was only made available this month due to necessary repackaging of the drug. The new packaging includes more instructions and information on the drug.
Only two appointments have been scheduled with a doctor at the Campus Health Service regarding Plan B use since the change was made, whereas in the past, about seven appointments were made in a week concerning the drug, Schroeder said.
"There's no stigma [attached to the drug] if the student can just get it over the counter," she said. "You can just buy it, and sometimes it's hard to get an appointment, so the pharmacist can just OK it with a verbal order."
Campus Health still encourages students to sign up for counseling or appointments with a health professional to check for sexually transmitted infections, or in case there was an incident of nonconsensual sex, Schroeder said.
Prices for the drug have decreased from $45 to $40, she added.
Schroeder also noticed an increase in men purchasing Plan B.
Walgreens pharmacies around ASU began selling Plan B without a prescription Thursday, though an official number of packages available for sale could not be released, a Walgreens pharmacist said.
However, the over-the-counter pill is not free of criticism.
The anti-abortion group Silent No More protested the drug Thursday on Hayden Mall, holding signs and distributing hundreds of pamphlets to students.
The organization is made up of women who have had abortions and later regretted having done so. The group is dedicated to informing women about the dangers associated with abortion.
Though Plan B works by stopping implantation, thereby preventing pregnancy, some view fertilization as the beginning of life, said Joan Maloof, coordinator for the Arizona chapter of the organization.
For Maloof, that means Plan B is nothing more than an abortion, she said.
Maloof is also concerned with the amount of hormones women are ingesting with each dose of Plan B, as the pill can be taken as many times as necessary, according to the Plan B Web site.
"It's a massive dose of hormones, and if we are already worried about eating meat with a lot of added hormones, imagine how unhealthy it is to put these hormones into our bodies," she said.
Reach the reporter at: amanda.chan@asu.edu.
