Scientific authorities have recommended to the Food and Drug Administraton that the Plan B emergency contraceptive be made available over the counter. However, the FDA, under pressure from conservative and other anti-abortion groups, has avoided making a decision.
Many states, though, have decided to step in and pass legislation that sidesteps the FDA's unwillingness to make a decision, and regulates how EC can be dispensed. Other states are stepping into the vaccum to restrict the availability of Plan B.
The Washington Post has the report:
More than 60 bills have been filed in state legislatures already this year, and that follows an already busy 2005 session on emergency contraception. The resulting tug of war is creating an availability map for the pill that looks increasingly similar to the map of "red states" and "blue states" in the past two presidential elections -- with increased access in the blue states and greater restrictions in the red ones.
Many of the state bills intended to expand access give specially trained pharmacists in states including Maryland, New York, Kentucky and Illinois the right to dispense emergency contraception without a prescription. Other bills require pharmacies to stock and distribute the drug, and to ensure that the pill is made available to women who come into emergency rooms after a sexual assault.
But some bills would make it more difficult for many women to get emergency contraception, which is effective for only 72 hours after a woman experiences a contraceptive failure or unprotected sex. Legislation in New Hampshire, for instance, would require parental notification before the drug is dispensed, and more than 20 other states will consider bills that give pharmacies the right not to stock the drug and pharmacists the right not to dispense it, even to women with valid prescriptions.
The FDA's innaction is an example of an all-too-common trend during the Bush administration to politicize science. Medical experts have concluded that Plan B OTC would be safe, but that has been trumped by an anti-abortion agenda driven by non-medical forces. Of course, the irony is that by not making Plan B easier to obtain, its opponents are making it more likely that more abortions will be performed.
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