Plan B, directed by Natalie Morales and recently released on Hulu, follows Sunny and Lupe, two South Dakota high schoolers, on their quest to find emergency contraception (EC). The film portrays a high school simultaneously obsessed with and terrified of sex—quickly switching between conversations about sexual positions in the locker room and outdated videos in sex ed class. After Sunny finds herself with a broken condom after her first sexual experience, she knows the Plan B pill is the right choice for her and sets off to find it.
Unfortunately, it’s much harder than it should be to obtain Plan B, also known as emergency contraception or the morning-after pill. Despite Plan B being authorized by the FDA in 2013 for over-the-counter sales to anyone regardless of age and without a prescription, roadblocks have been put in place to restrict access. On her first stop at her local pharmacy, Sunny encounters the “conscience clause,” when her pharmacist refuses to sell her the pill because of his personal beliefs. This is a real law in South Dakota—and similar laws around contraception exist in 12 other states.
