Bea Arthur was an Emmy Award-winning actress who played several loud-mouth women on TV. We think she was inspirational until her death today at age 86.

To remember her career, we've posted our favorite Golden Girls clip.



-Gabriel

Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America, were on CNN last week to discuss the FDA's ruling that Emergency Contraception may be sold over-the-counter to 17 year-old girls. The video follows, full transcript after the jump.



OFFICIAL CNN TRANSCRIPT

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) SANCHEZ: And I'm Rick Sanchez.

Welcome back to the World Headquarters of CNN.

The FDA says the emergency contraceptive pill, better known as Plan B, will soon be available to 17-year-old girls in the next few weeks without a prescription. A ruling last month set a new legal precedent, which previously required 17-year-olds to get a doctor's note to get this Plan B pill.

Anti-abortion activists aren't happy with the latest ruling.

Abortion rights activists are hailing it as better access to contraceptives.

Is there a happy medium here to be found in this ensuing debate?

Again, remember, it's called the morning after pill. And now 17- year-olds will be able to get it without a prescription. That's the upshot here.

Let's get into this debate.

Wendy Wright is the president of Concerned Women for America.

She joins us live from Washington.

Cecil Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, is live in our New York studios.

My thanks to both of you ladies for being with us.

CECILE RICHARDS, PRESIDENT, PLANNED PARENTHOOD FEDERATION OF AMERICA: Thank you, Rick.

WENDY WRIGHT, PRESIDENT, CONCERNED WOMEN FOR AMERICA: Thank you.

SANCHEZ: The first question, isn't preventing unwanted teen pregnancies a good thing, whether or not you agree with the methodology in this case, either one of you?

RICHARDS: Absolutely, Rick. I think that this decision by the FDA to expand access to emergency birth control for 17-year-olds is a good thing because it's better for the health care of -- of young women. We have an epidemic proportion of unintended teen pregnancy in this country. And I think it's good that the FDA is taking this issue seriously. It's about time.

SANCHEZ: Should we -- what do you say from the other side?

WRIGHT: Well, two prominent advocates for easy access to the morning after pill admitted in 2007 in a medical journal that, in fact, making the drug nonprescription does not reduce pregnancies or abortions. And they also admitted that the effectiveness of the drug had been substantially overstated. In essence, it doesn't work as well as they thought. So that's probably the reason why there has been no reduction in pregnancies or abortions.

Now, the FDA, in making this decision, violated its own standards, because it made a high dose of a drug available without a prescription when a low does of the very same drug requires a prescription because women...

SANCHEZ: So is that...

WRIGHT: ...need medical oversight when they take this drug.

SANCHEZ: Is that the problem with it, do you think, the dosage?

Because a lot of people are complaining -- you know, there's even the argument by some that this is akin to an abortion.

But parentally, it's not, right?

RICHARDS: That's right.

SANCHEZ: This is actually more akin to using a condom, for example, right?

WRIGHT: Well, the manufacturer...

RICHARDS: It's really...

WRIGHT: The manufacturer of the drug says it works in three different ways -- delaying ovulation, preventing fraternization or inhibiting implantation -- an incomplete sentence -- implantation of an embryo.

If it does work in that third way, then it would end a new life. So, at the very least...

SANCHEZ: But...

WRIGHT: ...we need to be honest with women so they can make their own choice if they want to take something that may end a new life.

SANCHEZ: But wait a minute. Now -- now you've made it a little bit more fuzzy than I thought it was going in.

Does -- does this stop -- we're not killing an...

(CROSSTALK)

SANCHEZ: We're not destroying an embryo here, we're getting -- we're stopping the embryo from being fertilized is what we're actually doing.

RICHARDS: Yes.

WRIGHT: No, no, no, no. RICHARDS: Rick, you're...

SANCHEZ: Or the egg from...

RICHARDS: Wendy is actually completely wrong.

SANCHEZ: ...the egg from being fertilized.

Go ahead.

RICHARDS: Right. Wendy is actually completely wrong on the science. And the frustrating thing here, I think, is that groups like the Concerned Women for America oppose birth control, they oppose every effort...

WRIGHT: Oh, that is not true.

RICHARDS: They have opposed every effort to do -- to take a really serious look at what is a very big problem in this country. The United States has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the Western industrialized world.

SANCHEZ: Yes.

RICHARDS: We have to take this issue seriously. And I think for most parents -- because I know you've -- you've raised this issue, like how do parents feel?

But I'm a parent of two teenagers. I think all of us hope and expect that our teens to come to us to talk about birth control, to talk about sexual activity.

But the truth is we're not doing enough and that there are teens out there who are getting pregnant, who aren't getting birth control, who aren't getting emergency birth control and I think we all...

SANCHEZ: We get it.

RICHARDS: What we all want as parents is to say we don't want more teen pregnancy in this country.

SANCHEZ: Well, I think most people just want to be educated. I know I do. I have a daughter.

WRIGHT: Absolutely.

SANCHEZ: And this is something that we all need to consider and have conversations with our families about.

RICHARDS: That's correct.

SANCHEZ: Ladies, Wendy, Cecil -- Cecile, thanks to both of you for being with us.

RICHARDS: Cecile.

SANCHEZ: We appreciate it.

WRIGHT: Thank you.

RICHARDS: Absolutely.

Thank you, Rick.