By Colleen Booth

With the proposed legislation discussing the possibility of making the morning-after pill access-ible without a prescription, we are in the midst of another combat of morals, hindering the progress of making the drug more readily accessible to women.

First, this type of emergency contraception is not abortion. The morning-after pill, or Plan B as it’s called, does not abort the fetus. The pill simply halts the fertilization process, disabling the sperm’s ability to infuse the embryo.

The Religious Right has hailed Plan B as a demonic pharmaceutical, leading to promiscuity among women and the murder of unborn fetuses across the country. Their response: If you are going to act with loose morals, you should be punished. But is it the woman or the child being punished? With drastic cuts in Welfare, there is a growing population of homeless and orphaned children. In 2001 alone, 290,000 children entered into the foster care system according to a 2003 study by the National Clearinghouse on Child Abuse ‘ Neglect. What’s preferable: surrendering thousands of innocent children to the world of starvation and neglect, or allowing a woman to halt the possibility of creating such a tragic life for a child?

The convenience of the emergency contraception availability will also result in a decrease of the more invasive alternative, abortion. The weight of the latter could be more difficult to bear for a victim of sexual violence. After being impeded and trespassed on, I cannot imagine a rape survivor embracing such a surgical procedure by means of first choice. Plan B will allow women to avoid embarrassing, difficult decisions by allowing them to take the extra precaution.

I’m not advertising promiscuity, nor am I inviting people to have unprotected sex. But no birth control is 100 percent effective, and for that, women shouldn’t be subjected to a lifetime of regret.

– Colleen Booth is a middler journalism major.