One of the reasons given for the FDA holding off approval of the Morning After, or Plan B, pill, was the concern of religious conservatives that easy access to this pill would result in increased promiscuity. So, approval was put on hold yet again and a study was commissioned. The findings of this study showed that, surprise surprise, access to the Morning After pill did not promote promiscuity (you can find a refresher on all this
here.)
But whether or not this study showed that access to Plan B promoted promiscuity is not, at all, relevant to the role of the FDA.
When did it become the mission of the Food and Drug Administration to regulate morality? It is not the job of the government to regulate the promiscuity levels of it's citizens. People have a right in this country to be promiscuous. People have a right to sin. It may run counter to the morality of some Christian Conservatives, but it is not illegal in this country to be immoral. Religious conservatives were attempting to use Plan B and the FDA to force their own morality onto the entire country in the form of denying access to the Morning After pill. That is, in my book, completely unacceptable.
By the line of thinking of these religious conservatives, condoms could certainly be considered as promoting promiscuity, but we certainly haven't seen this level of resistance by religious conservitves railing against the use of condoms. No, it's only female family planning that warrents their full attention, because without the fear of pregnancy looming over their heads, women may very well go out and have sex for no other reason than the enjoyment of having sex, and we certainly can't have that.
As people such as Amanda and Pam often point out, the concern of Christian males for the purity of their Christian females borders on the pathological. Speculation on why this is abounds, but the christian conservatives seem to accept that men cannot be expected to control their sexual urges, so the task falls entirely on women, though the last I checked, it takes two to be promiscuous (more if there's enough liquor involved).
It is reasons such as this that this most recent congressional session consisted entirely of flag burning, gay marriage and stem cells. The moderate Republicans have abandoned the current republican congress in droves. The ONLY people left are the religious base, and if they don't turn out in full force come November, the Republicans will once again find themselves a minority party. Look for more pandering to the regilious base in the next two years if Republicans retain the majority in Congress. They must, after all, lay the groundwork for the 2008 elections, and it's never too early to start.