Sunday, June 04, 2006

State of Plan B

Steve Benen writes in the Washington Monthly about the FDAs efforts to keep Plan B off the shelves. There was an article in the Washington Post by an anonymous 42-year-old happily-married mother of two who couldn't get a perscription for it (her doctor didn't prescribe that drug!) and ended up having an abortion. It's sort of a tragic beaurocratic nightmare tale.

Apparently about 2 years ago an FDA panel voted 23-4 for approval, one calling it "the safest drug that we have seen brought before us." It was quashed by high ranking FDA officials for unstated reasons which Benen characterizes as lies.

Just a few months ago Pharmacy boards were debating if pharmacists who morally objected to it didn't have to fill prescriptions for Plan B. All this for a drug available in 102 countries, 34 of which don't require a prescription.

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