The Food and Drug Administration will decide in the next few weeks if they will approve the sale of over the counter "morning after" pills. The pills are currently only available by a prescription.
The pills can be taken by women three to five days after sexual intercourse to reduce the chance of pregnancy. They are similar to birth control, but have a higher level of hormones. The pills, called Plan B, are 75-89 percent effective according to 4women.gov. If sold over the counter, they would be available to patients 16 and older.
Planned Parenthood in Memphis distributes the morning after pill as a prescription and supports it being made available over the counter.
"I think it's critical," said Barry Chase, president of Memphis Regional Planned Parenthood. "In a society where we have sexually active women, then they should have more opportunities for contraception."
Chase said a high number of women could be affected by the change to over the counter availability.
"Planned Parenthood of America estimates that it would prevent about 800,000 pregnancies a year," said Chase.
One of the strongest controversies over the pill is whether its use should be considered abortion.
"It's not an abortion, it's a contraceptive," Chase said.
Jennifer Elia, senior at The University of Memphis, said she thinks that it could be considered an abortion if the embryo is formed when the egg is fertilized. She said that could happen within an hour of sexual intercourse.
"If that happens then it's not a contraceptive it's an abortive kind of drug," the psychology major said.
Diane Shinberg, assistant professor of sociology at The U of M, said that it's a contraceptive, but that can be seen differently by some people depending on their viewpoint of the point of human conception.
"It certainly isn't the status of a fetus and I'm not sure it's considered the status of embryo yet," Shinberg said.
"But it's a philosophical debate and a scientific debate -- one that can be seen in different ways."
The pill works in three ways, said Shinberg, who teaches medical sociology.
The pill is hormonal and can stop ovulation, prevent fertilization by stopping the sperm, or it can prevent the fertilized egg being implanted into the uterine lining.
Shinberg supports the move to over the counter availability but is concerned about a lack of access because some pharmacies do not supply them.
"The issue is that certain drug stores are not stocking all contraceptives, and even if they (FDA) approve the morning after pill the local drug store still may not carry it," she said.
Lisa Mintz, a vice-president of programming at the Jewish Student Union, said that the pill being available over the counter is a positive for some females.
"I think it's probably a good idea for the people that want to use it," she said. "They're preventing a pregnancy for someone who doesn't want a baby at that time."
Elia said that the pill being given over the counter could promote promiscuity to some people.
"It could just give a stamp of approval on young teenagers to be sexually active before marriage," Elia said.
Supporters of the "morning after" pill, site a study by the University of California-San Francisco published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study showed that women don't change their sexual behaviors due to the availability of contraception, but are only more likely to use them.
Maria Threlkeld, freshman at The U of M, doesn't support the move to over the counter.
Threlkeld said that there are better methods than a "morning after" pill to keep a woman from having an abortion.
"I think there are other ways to stop an abortion and prevent them from happening," she said. "I think the person should step back and look at the other ways."
While she doesn't support the morning after pill in general, she said that it is better kept as a prescribed drug.
"By prescription at least it's not like an Advil," she said.
