As of Monday, the Obama administration has decided to allow over-the-counter sales of the morning after pill to minors, dropping an earlier appeal to a judge's order allowing it. The move to more freely allow the pill may be of particular consequence in the deeply religious Latino community, where abortion is largely seen as religiously taboo but where the pill (also known as "Plan B") skirts the line of contraceptive.
Levonorgestrel, the key active ingredient in Plan B, is a synthetic hormone that can prevent the egg from leaving the ovary or can prevent a fertilized egg from embedding in the uterus and developing into a fetus. Labeled an "emergency contraceptive", the morning-after pill may actually be taken within 72 hours of an encounter, though it works most effectively within 24 hours.
About 93 percent of all U.S. Latin-Americans identify as Christian, with 70 percent identifying as Catholic, according to the Hispanic Churches in American Public Life national survey. The Catholic church has been a longstanding critic of abortion; Pope Francis sent a letter to Bishops in Argentina earlier this year advising them against giving communion to pro-choice politicians.
Teen pregnancy and childbearing remain a widespread issue for Latina teens. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, the pregnancy rate among Latina teens was 107 per 1,000 girls in a 2008 study, more than double the rate among non-Hispanic white teen girls (43 per 1,000). Of those pregnant, Latina birthrate is also particularly high, with Latina teens having the highest birthrates in the nation (56 births per 1,000), more than one-and-a-half times the national rate.
The rhetoric surrounding age-checking medication was a contentious one, with opponents suggesting that in the world of pharmacology, you either make drugs prescription-only or over-the-counter, and that grey area age checking makes less sense.
NARAL Pro-Choice America, a reproductive rights advocacy group, told CNN that the decision "ends a nearly decade-long battle over lowering barriers to this important medication."