Nancy Keenan is president of NARAL Pro-Choice America. She may be reached at nancyk@prochoiceamerica.org. You may find additional information on this topic and others related to reproductive rights at www.prochoiceamerica.org.
The recent approval of the Plan B emergency contraceptive for over-the-counter access by the Food and Drug Administration after a three-year delay marked a win for women’s health and sound science over political ideology.
Americans celebrate this victory because, apparently, President Bush and his advisers could no longer defend their opposition to this safe, effective form of birth control.
Despite the FDA’s actions, President Bush shouldn’t get any brownie points for this decision. Instead, the decision should remind Americans that his administration was responsible for holding the application hostage for more than three years. During this time, the Bush administration put politics ahead of sound science, denying, without merit, American women’s access to a safe, effective form of contraception.
Public pressure, aided by multiple profiles in courage, played a pivotal role in making this decision a reality:
Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Patty Murray—and other lawmakers who stood behind them—were stalwarts in their support for over-the-counter access for Plan B. They worked tirelessly to counter the opposition’s political intervention because they, like the American public, understand the need for science, not political ideology, to guide the FDA’s decisions.
Dr. Susan Wood, who led the Office of Women’s Health, made the courageous decision to resign her post last year in protest of the agency’s refusal to make a decision on the Plan B application.
These impressive acts of leadership inspired Americans, who believe the FDA should remain independent and objective, to take note and take action.
On the grassroots front, the battle over Plan B approval mobilized pro-choice advocates around the country. NARAL Pro-Choice America conducted a three-year campaign that channeled tens of thousands of messages to the FDA from our member activists, urging the agency to make this birth-control option available over the counter.
It is undeniable that the overwhelming support of the American public for access to the “morning-after” pill, as a way to prevent unintended pregnancy and reduce the need for abortion, reinforced the public’s desire for less political divisiveness and a renewed focus on common ground and commonsense legislation.
And yet, the Family Research Council is already threatening lawsuits against the FDA, calling it a “rogue agency” that has “run amok.” This far-right organization is even calling on Congress to override the FDA, an independent agency that’s supposed to be insulated from political pressure. What’s notable here, aside from the hysterics, is the fact that anti-abortion organizations are now openly opposing birth control. Were it not so tragic, it would be laughable. Birth control prevents abortion.
So where do we go from here? What’s next on the horizon?
Even before the FDA’s decision, nine states had already enacted laws that would allow pharmacists to provide EC to women without a prescription.
Despite this positive progress, we cannot ignore that the right wing’s intense campaign to cut off women’s access to contraception is a major threat. In 2006 alone, 18 states considered measures that would allow pharmacists or pharmacies to refuse to fill women’s prescriptions for birth control. And the anti-choice leaders in Congress have already held a hearing on this issue—in order to lend support to these rogue pharmacies.
Even the FDA decision included an unnecessary and unfortunate age restriction, requiring women 17 and under to obtain a prescription in order to get the medication. Leading medical organizations, including the American Academy of Pediatrics, opposed this age requirement—and we hope, in the future, this unnecessary barrier is removed.
Allowing Plan B to be sold over the counter is a huge victory for women’s health: It took three long, arduous years for sound science to prevail over political interference, but we know that anti-birth-control groups and their allies in Congress and in the states will do anything—distort facts or push divisive legislation—to undermine women’s access to birth control.
Their rigid ideology and hostility to contraception lost out to common sense and science in this round, but unfortunately, in the face of this defeat, it seems likely that they are now working on their own “plan b.”
