The Right Wing Agenda wins again
It was a bit disheartening doing the research for this one. Because it was damn hard to find any information. I guess corporate media figured it wouldn't sell commercials.
Briefly put, the FDA has repudiated it's own panel regarding the so called "morning after pill" also known as "Plan B". The panel voted 27 to 0 earlier this year to make this available over the counter. And an outside panel advisory panel had recommended approval by a 23-4 vote However in an egregious political move to make the Right Wing happy, it was over ruled. The reputation and denial of a recommendation has been rare indeed untill this Administration.
According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, over-the-counter availability of Plan B would result in 1.7 million fewer unwanted pregnancies and 800,000 fewer abortions each year. Moreover, a recent study published in the Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology has shown that providing sexually active teenage girls with emergency contraception in no way makes them more likely to have unprotected sex; conservative concerns about increased promiscuity were thus proved unfounded and irrelevant.
However the FDA stated it was concerned that the availability of Plan B would increase the practice of non safe sex. Obviously they missed the study by the JPA. They also stated that there was not enough data regarding usage of Plan B by those under 14. Now regardless of your opinion of sexually active children, the FDA has never asked for this sort of data for this age group.
Once again we see that this Administration is completely politically motivated. The "science" of this administration has been a bit of a laugh (in a dark way) since the Global Warming statements issued by GWB before 9/11.
It is heartening to see, however that Congress is not letting this obvious Political Pandering go by without protest. Rep. Louise Slaughter called for the resignation of acting FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford and Dr. Steven Galson, acting director of the FDA?s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
It should be noted here that Plan B does not work if a woman is already Pregnant.
It was a bit disheartening doing the research for this one. Because it was damn hard to find any information. I guess corporate media figured it wouldn't sell commercials.
Briefly put, the FDA has repudiated it's own panel regarding the so called "morning after pill" also known as "Plan B". The panel voted 27 to 0 earlier this year to make this available over the counter. And an outside panel advisory panel had recommended approval by a 23-4 vote However in an egregious political move to make the Right Wing happy, it was over ruled. The reputation and denial of a recommendation has been rare indeed untill this Administration.
According to the Alan Guttmacher Institute, over-the-counter availability of Plan B would result in 1.7 million fewer unwanted pregnancies and 800,000 fewer abortions each year. Moreover, a recent study published in the Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology has shown that providing sexually active teenage girls with emergency contraception in no way makes them more likely to have unprotected sex; conservative concerns about increased promiscuity were thus proved unfounded and irrelevant.
However the FDA stated it was concerned that the availability of Plan B would increase the practice of non safe sex. Obviously they missed the study by the JPA. They also stated that there was not enough data regarding usage of Plan B by those under 14. Now regardless of your opinion of sexually active children, the FDA has never asked for this sort of data for this age group.
Once again we see that this Administration is completely politically motivated. The "science" of this administration has been a bit of a laugh (in a dark way) since the Global Warming statements issued by GWB before 9/11.
It is heartening to see, however that Congress is not letting this obvious Political Pandering go by without protest. Rep. Louise Slaughter called for the resignation of acting FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford and Dr. Steven Galson, acting director of the FDA?s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research.
It should be noted here that Plan B does not work if a woman is already Pregnant.
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