FDA Head Gets F on Plan B

On August 26th, commissioner of the FDA, Lester Crawford, blocked making Plan B, also known as "the morning after pill" available over the counter. In response, Susan Wood, assistant commissioner and head of the Office of Women's Health resigned in protest. Somewhere in here, something is wrong.

Plan B originally showed up in France as RU-486 in 1980. It has since undergone decades of testing. In France, where they don't have the same abortion issues that we have here, it was approved for use in 1988, and was protested by their anti-abortion groups. In the United States, it was placed on the list for testing in 1984, but blocked for the next 16 years, at one point by executive order of the first Bush administration. It was finally approved for use in 2000.

Five years later, after one of the longest testing periods in history, it was being listed for over the counter use, presumably to take its place next to boxes of Trojans and the Today sponge. That of course was not to be.

Ignoring years of research, oceans of data, and the recommendation of the approval panel, Mr. Crawford blocked approval. To what end? From the perspective of the scientists, the only answer is, politics. Mr. Crawford is toadying up to the White House and blocking approval for political reasons. In so doing, he is holding back something which could be used to diminish a public health issue, and denying an opportunity for women to exercise birth control.

Mr. Crawford argues that the drug has not had sufficient time for discussion and public comment.

Now far be it from me to gainsay Mr. Crawford's opinion, but this has been going on for twenty years. To me, that seems like a good amount of time. It also seems that his action was in opposition to every member of his approval council, and in fact they were not even consulted about it. The version they sent for approval was for anyone over 17 to have the ability to get it over the counter. Some members of the group advocated for sending the recommendation forward with no age rule at all. But they sent a more conservative version out for approval. Even that was rejected.

When public welfare starts taking a backseat to a religious agenda, it is time to excise religion. No one is "pro-abortion." The "pro-choice" position has always been that they don't like abortion, but until people no longer feel that is their only option, then they will work to make sure that option is safe. Plan B is a good way to decrease the number or abortions, especially if it is available when it is needed, not when it has to be planned for. There is a reason they are called "unplanned pregnancies."

What I have always found strange is that the same areas of the country that are most "religious" and most anti-abortion, are also the same areas with the highest abortion rates and highest teen pregnancy rates. I think there is a reason for that, and that reason is that the "religious" portion of that population is deliberately keeping people misinformed and ignorant in order to maintain their power and influence.

Mr. Crawford blocking Plan B is simply another extension of that. As Americans it is time to put away childish things, like sacrificing knowledge on an unholy altar of personal power.