If you've ever had to take an emergency contraceptive — it's imperative that it works. Mistakes happen, unprotected sex happens. Having a "plan B" becomes more important than expected.
However, according to an observation from Princeton University, "emergency contraceptive pills, regardless of type, appear to be significantly less effective " depending on your weight. On top of that, a European Manufacturer, Norlevo, of a pill identical to Plan B has said after clinical trials that its pill will not work for women over 176 pounds and begins to lose effectiveness at 165 pounds.
The core of the problem is that the dosage is standardized. Consequently, a woman who weighs in at 120 pounds takes the same dosage as a woman weighing 166. Even though she purchases Plan B for the same price, this is significantly less effective for her. This is absolutely troubling in a country where the weight of the average woman is in fact 166.2 pounds as reported by the CDC. Repeat, Emergency Contraceptive is significantly less effective for the average woman.
When I had heard about this, I was shocked at #1 how unfair that is and #2 how I had never heard of this and how little this topic is talked about. Plan B generally retails at the steep price of $50.00 and women around the country purchase the pill unknowing that they could possibly be three times more likely to get pregnant than others. To put it simply, the numbers of women who are over the proverbial weight limit have risen, and the emergency contraceptives have yet to change their doses.
Norlevo, the European Manufacturer identical to Plan B did go back on their statement to say that their "emergency contraceptives can continue to be used in women of all weights as the benefits are considered to outweigh the risks." But as an article from Refinery29 expresses, this simply means "There's a chance it may be less effective, but it can't hurt to try."
The question is, with these recent studies, should we be looking for a Plan C? Why have dosages not changed after all these years? Should we be concerned and mildly offended about the disparity of effectiveness for 2/3rds of the women in this country? Perhaps we should be.
In a perfect world, we would have no-fail contraception and mistakes that wouldn't happen. But these hard facts should propel us furthermore to research contraceptives and find those that work best for us. We must let it be known that Plan B is imperfect, accept that Plan B is imperfect and do something about it — whether that be making a change in your backup plan or advocating for a change in the way things are.
