1158 The Morning After

1158 The Morning After

Maybe you remember back in the day when they kept condoms behind the drugstore counter.  Awkward for young boys, especially if the clerk was a woman, even worse if the woman was your neighbor, Mrs. Gabblebobble.

“Ummm... may I speak with the pharmacist, please?”

Of course, Mrs. Gabblebobble knew what you wanted.  But in kinder, gentler times she would either fetch the druggist or yell at you to “...get out of this store, you dirty little boy!”

If the clerk was a guy, it was a little easier.  You’d walk up to the counter with, say, a tube of toothpaste, a bottle of Listerine, a box of tissues and a roll of LifeSavers.  When the clerk asked if there was anything else you needed, you’d say something like “...no, I’m all set.  Oh, wait, I almost forgot.  And a three pack of Trojans.”

Nobody was fooled.  The other stuff would go home with you.  But all you really wanted were the condoms.

Now, there are open displays of them, with as many different choices as there are bottles in the shampoo aisle.

We’ve come a bit of a way since the days when birth control was an admission of sin committed or sin about to be committed or -- more likely -- sin hoped for.  But even then, a request from a 14 year old boy or an 85 year old man would be honored.

We’ve also come a long way since women have had to rely on men for conception prevention.   The diaphragm, the IUD, the Pill and the Morning After Pill are common.  Unlike condoms, these are prescription items.  And there are good reasons for three of them.  But until now, “Plan B” the emergency contraception/morning after pill was available over the counter except for those younger than 17 or 18.  They needed prescriptions and they needed parental permission.

The recent court ruling ordering the FDA to make “B” available over the counter to anyone put young girls in a position that young boys were in decades ago.   They now can buy the stuff, but they have to ask for it at the counter.  Mrs. Gabblebobble is still there, ladies.

This space does not advocate or encourage underage sex.  But underage sex happens.  If after completion and contemplation, Sweet Betsy from Pike, 16, decides she’d better make sure there will be no Betsy Junior growing down there... if she has the sense to take precautions after the heat of passion made her forget them, she should be able to.

The cost is zero if there’s a Planned Parenthood clinic nearby.  Otherwise, it’s about 40 bucks.  That’s a whole lot cheaper than a baby.  And it’s a whole lot easier to face the dreaded Mrs. Gabblebobble than it is mom, dad and your hypocritical former friends.

Shrapnel:

--It’s well known that Nassau County on New York’s Long Island can’t run it finances and has to report to a state panel for final say so over what it spends.  And we know that Nassau can’t run its Coliseum (See Wessay #1154.)  Now we learn it can’t run the county jail, either and has been ordered to appoint an outside panel to fix decades of mismanagement, abuse, inmate death and break down maintenance.

I’m Wes Richards.  My opinions are my own but you’re welcome to them. ®

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© WJR 2013