Change Attitudes, Maintain Access
House on Red Corner · 2006-08-24
At 9.20 am this morning the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Plan B for over-the-counter purchase.
In December 2003, a panel of outside advisers voted 23-4 to recommend switching Plan B from a prescription to over-the-counter drug. FDA staff scientists agreed, but a Commissioner Lester rejected approval.
In 2005, Susan Wood, director of FDA’s Office of Women’s Health resigned after the FDA announced it would postpone the decision to make Plan B an OTC drug indefinitely.
CNN reports that in her letter of resignation, Wood wrote;
“I can no longer serve as staff when scientific and clinical evidence, fully evaluated and recommended for approval by the professional staff here, has been overruled,†wrote Wood, who also was assistant commissioner for women’s health. “The recent decision announced by the Commissioner about emergency contraception, which continues to limit women’s access to a product that would reduce unintended pregnancies and reduce abortions, is contrary to my core commitment to improving and advancing women’s health.â€
 Commissioner Lester’s response:
“the agency considered over-the-counter sales to women 17 and older fine, but that younger teens would still need a prescription — and that the agency was unable to decide how pharmacies could enforce an age limit, or even if it was legal to have such dual sales.”
This is obviously absurd. The sale of alcohol is limited to people over 21. Plan B will require proof of age in just the same manner. Obviously, Commissioner Lester was making excuses rather than being honest as to his reasons for disapproving the drug. (Conservative opponents said wider availability would lead to more teen-age promiscuity and sexually transmitted diseases. FDA operations Commissioner Janet Woodcock asserted that Plan B would lead to teenage sex cults.)
Limiting a woman’s control over the number and spacing of her children is a violation of human rights.