Search Here

In New York, the battle between whether or not the morning after pill should have an age restriction came to an end when a federal court ruled in April that the emergency contraception pill could be sold to young girls without an age restriction. Before this ruling, girls under 18-years-old could only buy the drugs with an adult and with a doctor's prescription. Despite the new ruling that made Plan B One Step more accessible, a new poll found that many Americans favor an age restriction on these pills.

"I think one of the things that's necessary is an education effort," said Dr. Michael Taylor, chief medical officer at Truven Health Analytics, according to NPR. "There's probably some misconception in this country about how the morning-after pill works. It's not an abortion; it's a type of contraception. It really serves the same role as a birth-control pill."

For this study, the researchers administered the NPR-Truven Health Analytics Health Poll. From this poll, the researchers received responses from 3,008 participants. The data was collected during the first half of June and the researchers stated that the margin of error was plus or minus 1.8 percentage points.

The team found that around 82 percent of the participants knew what the morning after pill was. Of the 82 percent, 85 percent were females whereas only 78 percent of men knew about the pill, a difference that the researchers found to be statistically significant. When it came to whether or not they agreed with the new policy, 18 percent of the people stated that there should be no age minimum. 17 percent of the people polled stated that regardless of age, the pills should always be purchased with a prescription. Around 35 percent of the people believed that a girl should only be able to purchase the morning after pill if she is at least 18-years-old.

Roughly two-thirds of the people stated that for adolescents under 18-years-old, they should always need their parents' permission before buying the pill if they do not need a prescription. For this particular finding, the researchers reported that the rate increased as the level of education increased in the respondents. The poll also found that the majority of Americans, with 61 percent, believed that insurance companies should pay for the emergency contraceptive pill.

Access to the report questions and answers can be found here.