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FDA Sued For Politicizing Women's Health
Here's a new one: The Family Research Council is accusing the FDA of "politicizing women's health." Because before Plan B came around a woman's body was her own business? Right.
Yesterday a coalition of groups including the Family Research Council and Concerned Women for America filed a lawsuit against the FDA for its decision to approve the nonprescription sales of Plan B, Barr Laboratories' emergency contraceptive. Among its litany of complaints, the lawsuit accuses the FDA of violating the law by allowing the same drug to be distributed simultaneously by prescription and over the counter (uh, what about that "all-day non-drowsy relief"?), and it also names names, charging that the decision was made after "improper pressure" from Democratic Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Patty Murray.
"There are a lot of concerns," a spokesperson for the FRC told the Washington Times. This despite the fact that Barr has taken unprecedented steps to ensure the drug does not get into the hands of those under 18 and the uninformed. The company has agreed to send "anonymous shoppers" into pharmacies to test compliance with the age restriction, to distribute with the drug a booklet about its proper use, and to exclude gas stations and convenience stores from selling Plan B at all.
The improper pressure mentioned in the suit refers to Clinton and Murray putting a hold on the confirmation of current commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach until the FDA acted on the recommendation to approve OTC status. FRC said the decision to approve Barr's application is "very clearly caught up in political dynamics, and I would go so far as to say there is electoral politics involved here." Susan Wood, former director of FDA's Office of Women's Health, points out that the senators simply urged the agency to make a decision one way or the other, after months of stalling, and "didn't say what the decision should be."
In Canada, Plan B has been legal and available over the counter for some time now. It costs 40$ and there is no age limit (why should there be, aren't teenagers less capable of dealing with unwanted pregnancies than adults?). Both my 16 and 18 year old younger sisters have each used it once. The alternative is frightening - neither of them would in any way be able to deal with having a child and the abortion experience is horribly traumatizing. I find it absurd to hold the dual opinions that abortion is wrong but so is contraception.
Additionally, when selling Plan B over the counter, the pharmacist provides minor counseling to woman buying it. S/He will advise about other non-emergency methods of contraception and point out the risk of STDs while explaining that Plan B should not be used as a primary form of contraception and that Plan B is less effective than condoms or the pill. They also provide information about local resources - Sexual health clinics and counseling services.
Once again, I am reminded of just how lucky I am to live in a free country just north of "Jesusland".
They have finally woken up. So many on one side had slowly taken away their rights to live their conscience, and now that these kind of groups are fighting with the same tools used by their opposition for years to legislate morality rather than grant the people freedom to live according to individual conscience, it is coming back on them. Freedom is too precious to try to force morality down a man or woman's throat. Whether one agrees that taking of a child's life should be immoral or a choice, it is clear that no one should ever force their decision down a whole society's throats. After all, are not Christians and Muslims and Orthodox Jews as welcome in our countries? Can we be foolish enough to think we can legislate our brand of morality down a person's conscience?
Right wing religious fundamenatlism is so totally wrong. It attempts to legislate the morals of a few onto the morals of eveyone else. My religion, the catholic religion is at the very center of this radical right wing religious movement. But then it supported Hitler and the Nazis before, during and after WWII and look at what they gave to the wolrd, WWII and the Holocaust and now the worst of the Holocaust, namely, the Neocons.
Jesus for bade the merging of church and state as does our Constitution but the Pope Just ignores those facts as he (actualkly both prior and present popes) continue to push their private agendas. The catholic church is making another disastrous error now just as it did prior to WWII.
I must be the last catholic in America that is not a rethuglikkkan.
Asymptote,
You Canadians seem to have a more civil and democratic viewpoint on how gov't should behave. If we are not able to stop the religious right here in America they will be on your doorstep next. Guard your civility and civil liberties, well.
We in America have lost so many of ours due to the shredding of our cherished Constitution and the radical religious right wing voter crazies.
The US needs to let women govern their own bodies and worry about the correcting the mistakes (enviornment, war, economy)Bush and his religious right government had wrought upon this once great nation!! The United States used to be a country for all it's citizens, sadly now it's a country for the rich religious right.
it seems to me that all the hoopla by the "religious right" about Plan B is a direct result of their being ignorant of how it works. from what i understand, Plan B is not an abortion pill, it perevents an egg from implanting in the uterus thus PREVENTING a pregnancy. if that is abortion, then why haven't they been raising heck about IUDs which also prevent an egg from implanting?
dawn,
Just to add a humorous note, approximately 80% of all fertilized eggs fail to implant in the womb. If this is abortion, and if one believes in a deity, then said deity is the biggest abortionist in history!!
As an antitheist I find that bit amusing. As a moral human being, I say, if any form of abortion or protection from pregnancy is wrong to you, don't have one/don't use it.
Pharmacists however, should also be required to dispense all legal prescription and non-prescription drugs. If they are unwilling to dispense birth control of any form, they should choose a profession not based on science, perhaps something in the clergy would make more sense.
Thanks Dawn, wasn't even quite sure of that myself. Well said.
Oil and water will not mix just as the same as religion and science. The Religious Right will do any thing to ban abortion totally because they want more babies born so that they can garnered more money from them when they grow to adulthood. They base their belief on the bible and ignored science.In Europe, there are less babies born and only few people attending church. Even churches were sold, converted to a hotel, bar, etc. The only country that is economically in the advantage is China because they have a one-child-policy. This only to show that this people of the religious right is delusional and totally of no conscience.
Wow what incite. I applaud all those women out there taking up the reins of responsibility. I mean who really wants to pullute this world, even more with some brat that ain't gonna do nothin but keep you up at night, cost you money, eat all your food, keep the boys from comin around or not let you go out to the clubs or even the next anti-war protest or vegetable-rights march. They ain't gonna do nothin but suck the life right out of you anyways. Right? But really. You can do yourself the biggest favor by gettin your tubes tied up. It'd be cheaper in the long run. Because you know if some of you out there had any kids, they'd just end up sucking off the governments titties anyways.
Please don't look at me, look in the mirror, some of you give more rights to rapists, child molesters and murderers than you do to the life you made the choice to create. That is unless you were raped as a child by a murderer. Then I guess that wouldn't be your fault, and then the pill would be nice.
By the way E-COLI, only the births of european nationalists are declining. Not the births of immigrants. Immigrants are popping them out at a rate of four to one over nationalist. I'm not against immigrants. My Great grandfather was one. What is a country doing right when it can't sustain its own population? Nothing. It will eventually cease to exist you know.