Goddamn it:
The government rejected over-the-counter sales of morning-after birth control on Thursday because of concern about young teenagers' use of the pills. But regulators left open the possibility they will reconsider.
The Food and Drug Administration was under intense political pressure from both sides on whether to lift the prescription requirement for emergency contraception. Conservatives argued doing so could encourage unsafe sex. Proponents said easier access to the pills could prevent thousands of abortions -- and the FDA's own scientific advisers had overwhelmingly backed the change
But in a letter to Barr Laboratories late Thursday, the FDA said there was no evidence teens younger than 16 could safely use the pills without a doctor's guidance -- and it thus was rejecting the move until Barr could provide that evidence.
(...)
"It's a matter of weeks and months to deal with this objection," Downey said, saying that means the FDA could reconsider the issue within a year. "Clearly ... the door's open, and we plan to go through it."
Within the FDA, the decision was mixed. An internal agency memo, obtained by The Associated Press, suggests medical reviewers backed nonprescription sales of Barr's brand, called Plan B, but were overruled by senior officials.
What we have here is the FDA capitulating to the most extreme people in this country. The talk about young women is a complete smoke screen and a total cop out. The "senior officials" the article mentions were no doubt
told that they could not approve Plan B for OTC use, no matter what the scientific data showed. So they figured out an angle they could take that would at least appear to be a genuine concern rather than a political move and they latched onto it. But it's nothing more than a smokescreen. There is nothing to suggest that this pill is a great danger to those under 16. There is plenty of evidence, though, that pregnancy is incredibly dangerous to those under 16. A girl is going to face many more complications and face a much greater risk of injury or death from a pregnancy than from taking emergency contraception.
This is a decision tailored for the most extreme anti-abortion people in this country. They have decided that emergency contraception causes abortions. Their reasoning is that Plan B--at times--prevents a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. This is not the official medical definition of an abortion, but they consider it an abortion. They believe that life begins at fertilization.
Have no doubts, though, that this is the most extreme of views. First of all, the birth control pill does the same thing. It can keep a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus. So these are the same people who believe the birth control pill should be outlawed. In addition, eggs naturally fail to implant in the uteral lining all the time. Any woman trying to get pregnant, by this extreme definition, has likely had one or more natural abortions.
The problem here is not that there are people who believe life begins at fertilization. The problem is that the goddamn FDA is basing their decisions on this extreme view. The far fringes should not be deciding national healthy policy. Solid scientific data should be deciding health policy. It infuriates me that these hardcore, extreme people are able to dictate to the FDA how the country's health policies should be shaped. It's outrageous. It's fucking ridiculous.
Let me also point you to this other MSNBC article. It's a good summary of the pros and cons of emergency contraception. What is most interesting in the article are the two main arguments made against emergency contraception. The first is the one I talked about above--the very extreme view of abortion. The second reason is also quite interesting:
Others charge that young women would be more likely to practice unsafe sex if they could grab a morning after pack next to a pack of gum, prompting a rise in promiscuity and sexually transmitted diseases.
Before I go completely blind from the anger, let me give you a quick paraphrase of this view:
Young women are sluts. If we make emergency contraception easily available, they will run out and start fucking every man they can find.
That is what they believe. They just try to couch it in less inflammatory terms. But have no doubt that is what they believe.
The only consolation I take from all this is that the FDA did not have the nerve to completely reject the application. Barr Laboratories, who is behind Plan B, will be going back to the FDA in the future and looking to get approval of OTC status. Let's hope that Barr takes some time getting back to the FDA, waiting until Kerry is in office rather than Bush. Hopefully then, the FDA will make a decision based on real science and will take into account the needs and concerns of our society and the general population, rather than forcing a dangerous pregnancy on little Suzy as punishment for daring to have sex.