In her Aug. 11 column, Ellen Goodman seemed to think the Food and Drug Administration would be doing underage girls a big favor by giving them easy access to Plan B, "the morning after pill."

Goodman wrote, "Emergency contraception does nothing if you're pregnant." Wrong. By the morning after, conception has already taken place, and the tiny new human person is on its way through the fallopian tube to implant in the lining of the uterus. This tiny living person only needs two things to become a full-sized baby: time and nourishment. The genetic code is all there. If the baby can implant, it will be nourished, and in nine months it will be born. So - Plan B is an abortifacient, not a contraceptive.

The longer abortion on demand is the law of the land, the more obvious it becomes that the price of abortion is one dead, one wounded.

If the girl taking Plan B is over 18, she has, perhaps, a little more maturity to decide if she wants to live with the thought of having destroyed her own child.

Society has a duty to protect those too young to choose wisely. Underage girls do not need further encouragement to engage in a lifestyle that can only lead to heartache down the road.