Friday, August 26, 2005

Suprise, suprise! Bush's FDA breaks its promise to women

Guess what -- ladies like emergency contraception. The morning after pill. The oh-shit pill. It's easy to use, extremely safe (more so than aspirin), no side effects (15-20% experience nausea). It is highly effective at preventing pregnancy if taken within 5 days (120 hours) of unprotected intercourse or sexual assault. It has tremendous potential to reduce unintended pregnancy and the need for abortion, thus improving women's health.

But the boys at the FDA don't really care about that.

After missing last winter's regulatory deadline for deciding whether to continue withholding the morning-after pill from over the counter status, Bush's Food and Drug Administration brokered a deal with Senator-Divas Boxer and Clinton to make a decision on OTC status by September 1, 2005. In exchange, the good Senators would lift their hold on Lester Crawford's confirmation as FDA head.

Today, the agency blithely announced it would not, after all, be issuing a decision.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/HEALTH/parenting/08/26/morning.after.pill.ap/index.html

Despite the overwhelming recommendation of 2 Bush-appointed panels that EC be made available without a prescription. And the comment of one expert doctor who said EC was the safest drug ever to come before the committee. What's another 60 days, unless you're a rape victim who lives in an area served only by a religiously affiliated hospital. No rush.

Barr Laboratories' (Plan B's manufacturer) CEO Bruce Downey quipped, "It's like being in purgatory." Yeah, sorta, Bruce. Kind of like the purgatory experienced by women who experience a contraceptive failure and need EC.

11 Comments:

Blogger Blood Red, White, & Blue said...

What do you think with a liberal congress? Apparently they are going to make it even harder for the FDA to pass new drugs. Besides virtually ALL drugs are bad for you. Whether it's Aspirin or heroin. Whether it's this new moring after pill or crack cocaine. Besides, whatever happened to condoms?



Either way, I think you'd be right in saying that the FDA is a failure.

8:53 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just so you know, the main component of the morning after pill is levonorgestrel and when levonorgestrel is taken in conjunction with certain other medications (such as antidepressants) it can have disasterous consequences. Like, the instance of the woman who committed suicide.

Yes, really. Look it up in the American Medical Journal, The British Medical Journal, The Lancet etc. etc. etc.

Maybe that's why the FDA are carefully considering whether it should be available OTC.

Also, it does not always work.

Example: My contraception failed. I went to my doctor for the morning after pill less than 12 hours after the failure of my contraception. Being a nurse and not wanting to fall pregnant, I took the morning after pill EXACTLY as directed.

I am now a mother.

There are very valid reasons why some medications are not sold OTC. For the safety of the people taking them.

11:15 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just for the sake of clarity I thought I'd include for you a list of adverse reactions to levonorgestrel.

Thromboembolism; increased risk of cervical, breast & hepatic tumours; chloasma; hypertension; genitourinary disturbances; gastrointestinal upset; gall bladder disease; Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis to name a few.

Maybe that's the reason a licenced Medical Practitioner has to prescribe this drug and maybe the FDA actually know what they're doing.

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