Emergency contraception (EC) holds tremendous potential for dramatically reducing the number of unintended pregnancies among young women.  Fewer unintended pregnancies means fewer abortions – a goal on which everyone should be able to agree.  Despite emergency contraception's tremendous benefits, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently approved EC for over-the-counter (i.e. non-prescription) sales, but only for individuals ages 18 and older. The FDA's age restriction means, unfortunately, that EC's potential to reduce teen-pregnancy rates over the long term will not be fully realized.  Public-health experts agree that this age restriction is unnecessary.  Requiring those under 18 to get a prescription and find a pharmacist means some teens simply won't have access to the medication, and will face unintended pregnancy – and for some, abortion – as a result.

Timely access to EC is particularly important for teens.  Despite efforts to encourage abstinence among young people, evidence demonstrates that many teens will have sex.  In addition, teens are more likely than adults to experience contraceptive failure, and many teens use no contraception or use it inconsistently.  All too frequently the end result is unintended pregnancy, which can have devastating consequences for teens’ health and lives. 

Access to EC, which can be used to prevent pregnancy when other contraceptive methods fail or are not used at all, is therefore incredibly important for young women.  In addition to making the medication itself widely available, it is also vitally important that all women be educated about EC, how it works, and how to take it so as to maximize its effectiveness at preventing pregnancy.  Safe medications like EC, and information about them, must not be held hostage by political ideology.

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