2008 Woodie Awards
FDA should urge, not block access to Plan B
The FDA may have been catering to the religious right.
By: Michelle Oyola
Issue date: 12/1/05 Section: Opinion/Editorial
- Page 1 of 2 next >
|
But apparently I'm mistaken. In May 2004, the FDA ruled against letting the morning-after pill known as Plan B be sold without a prescription. And evidence is now surfacing that suggests the FDA's decision-making process was far from scientific.
According to Plan B's Web site, this method of emergency contraception is not an "abortion pill," meaning that it will not work if a woman is already pregnant. Plan B will not harm a fertilized egg and it utilizes the same hormone as normal birth control - except this is a huge dose of it. Plan B may work in three ways: by stopping the release of an egg from the ovary, by preventing the sperm from fertilizing the egg or by preventing the egg from attaching to the uterus. In short, if the magic moment of the fertilized egg attaching to the womb has occurred, Plan B will not harm the zygote.
Maybe the condom breaks, or a couple gets a little carried away and forgets to follow the normal preventative procedures. Mistakes happen. For many women, this is one of the most embarrassing and private mistakes they will experience.
But now this personal mistake must be revealed to a doctor. Women must ask for a prescription of Plan B. It must be taken within up to three day after unprotected sex to be effective. Plan B's Web site currently recommends that women ask their health care professionals to have a prescription ready in advance, but does anyone plan on having unprotected sex? Women seek out Plan B because they are having an emergency, an emergency most would feel uncomfortable sharing with a doctor.
Maybe the FDA doesn't understand why Plan B is classified as an emergency contraceptive. Instead, the FDA may have been catering to the religious right. Planned Parenthood has sent out a stream of articles making this accusation since the decision was made last year, but their claims received some federal backing two weeks ago.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO), which is a non-partisan federal drug regulator, released a report stating the FDA's review process was "unusual" in four ways. In addition, the decision was not typical when compared to other similar cases handled in recent years. One of the points of the report stated FDA higher-ups were concerned that allowing Plan B to be sold over the counter would encourage promiscuity in young adolescents (The complete report is available at http://www.gao.gov).