Free Plan B!

My experience with the morning after pill

Florida

So, I’m in Florida, at CVS picking up a prescription for my mom. I’m curious about the accessibility of emergency contraception, and I’m happy to see Plan B on the shelf - right alongside the condoms. But, it costs an exorbitant $50 and it’s in this huge plastic box. I picture a teenager, trying to be subtle, having to carry this awkward container up to the checkout counter. I grab the plastic contraption, take it to the checkout stand, and ask the clerk why all the packaging? She responds that it’s to prevent people from stealing it. Mmmm, I think to myself. If it weren’t $50, people wouldn’t have to steal it. And, besides, why the heck wouldn’t you want people to steal it. Of all things to lift off the shelf - seems like a pretty good one to let walk out the door!

Oregon, two weeks later

When I return home from a trip to Florida, I pop into Walgreens, this time to pick up my own prescription. While waiting for the clerk to find my order, I look up at the shelf behind the counter, and there I see Plan B. “Why is emergency contraception behind the register?” I ask the clerk, adding “I thought it was available over the counter.” The clerk responds that it is over the counter, but that it’s out of reach so that people don’t steal it. Knowing that it isn’t the clerk’s policy, but the stores, I simply grunt. I keep wondering … Is it better to have your contraception on the regular shelves in the store but in a big plastic box you have to carry to the check-out counter, or is it better to not be in a big box, but behind the check-out-counter so that you have to ask for it? I think we can agree that both options suck. Contraception of all kinds should be safe, easily accessible, and do I dare . . . say free?