Morning-After Pill May Go OTC as FDA Confirmation Hearing Looms

The US Food and Drug Administration is going to consider moving the morning-after birth control pill from the prescription category to the over-the-counter list. This announcement on Monday is a re-starting of a stalled decision-making process. Yesterday, the Senate held confirmation hearings for Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, the acting commissioner at the FDA. The Bush White House has sacrificed its own principles (yet again) in a desperate attempt to smooth the good doctor’s path. It might just backfire.

Currently, the Plan-B pill, made by Barr Pharmaceuticals, is sold only by prescription. It works by putting into a woman’s blood stream the same hormones found in the traditional contraceptive pill. Taken within 72-hours of sex, it prevents up to 90% of pregnancies. And that annoys the pro-life crowd who believe that life begins at conception (when in fact it doesn’t really begin until 40, if then). In addition to killing off a single cell that hasn’t implanted itself in the womb (which is what doctors mean when they say “pregnant), the radical rightists worry that the morning-after pill will cause people they don’t know in places they haven’t visited to have sexual relations with other people they don’t know.

Despite the worries of the radical right, two FDA advisory panels voted overwhelmingly in December 2003 to approve Plan B for sale without a prescription, finding that the drug was safe and effective. Nonetheless, Lester Crawford, Dr. von Eschenbach’s predecessor, held up that approval. He had given his word to act on Barr Pharma’s request to move its pill to an OTC status in exchange for Senate confirmation. He reneged, and then, quit two months after confirmation.

So, Dr. von Eschenbach faces an angry pair of female Senators, Patty Murray (D-WA) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY), who want the application addressed. “We will hold this nomination until we have a decision on Plan B” said Senator Murray. If he does make a decision, he will further annoy them, or the radical rightists. And without a decision, he remains “acting” commissioner. The Bush administration is full of “acting” bureaucrats as that avoids Senate confirmation, but it a shows a distinct lack of guts.

Moreover, Mr. Bush needs a win. He has bungled the Iraq occupation, has botched the Israel-Hezbollah conflict, blown the Iranian nuke problem, and blundered over the North Korean missile situation. Republican candidates don’t want to be seen with him, and has anyone seen Social Security reform? So, the FDA appointment offers him one last chance before the elections to show he’s still relevant. And that’s why he’s prepared to sell out the social conservatives again – they’re the constituency that never learns.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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