Plan B's Plan Uncertain

Wednesday, August 31, 2005

So much fuss in Washington over a tiny little pill:

WASHINGTON - A high-ranking Food and Drug Administration official resigned Wednesday in protest of the agency's refusal to allow over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception.

The FDA on Friday postponed indefinitely its decision on whether to allow the morning-after pill, called Plan B, to sell without a prescription. The agency said it was safe for adults to use without a doctor's guidance but that young teenagers still needed a prescription and it couldn't determine how to enforce an age limit — a decision contrary to the advice of its own scientific advisers.

I, unlike most of my colleagues on the right, am an enthusiastic supporter of the Plan B contraceptive, because it allows women who are at risk of becoming pregnant a way to halt the process before another unborn child ultimately ends up in the medical waste bin.

As for restricting it to minors without a prescription, the drug should be regulated the way cigarettes are. Obviously minors will still find ways to get access to it just like they do for every drug regardless of its availability, but it's a risk they and their abettors take.