Emergency Contraception Update and Alert

September 2, 2005

NOW delivers comments on Emergency Contraception directly to the doorstep of HHS and Secretary Leavitt.

Last week the FDA prolonged its dalliance with women's lives by proposing a bogus "60 day comment period" before it could release emergency contraception (EC) to women without restraint. NOW complied with a "sidewalk delivery" of our comments.

The Food and Drug Administration announced on Friday, August 26 that they would continue to delay approval for over-the-counter EC, citing fears that young women can't read and understand the directions for taking EC. Underlying their delay is the social engineering, not good medical, assumption that unrestricted access to EC for women 16 and under will lead to sexual promiscuity and sexually transmitted diseases.

For all intents and purposes, the FDA said that since they couldn't figure out how to deal with young women, then NO women could have access to EC as a non-prescription drug.

Susan Wood, the FDA's director of the Office of Women's Health agrees with us, turning in her resignation and saying later in an interview that she was deeply concerned about the direction of the agency.

Tell the FDA That Women Need Over-the-Counter Emergency Contraception with NO Restrictions

What happened to the concept that EC could safely help avoid unwanted pregnancies and abortions, certainly more life altering than a sexually transmitted disease or misread label? Where is the concern for women's health and women's autonomy to make childbearing decisions? NOW activists and others who support the health, safety and decision-making authority of women in their childbearing years must DEMAND that the FDA follow the medical and scientific advice of it's committees and permit the sale of EC without prescription and age restrictions. We must remind them one more time that their job is to promote and protect our health and safety, not the political whims of religious bigots or their patrons, be they the pharmaceutical industry or the politicians controlling the White House and Congress.

Demand that the FDA release EC to the women of this country