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CURRENT
ISSUE: August 7, 2006
VOL.
44, NO. 14Oakland,
CA
Official denounces easy access to morning-after pill
WASHINGTON
(CNS) -- A move by the Food and Drug Administration toward making the
morning-after pill available over the counter could damage women’s
health and put more pressure on pharmacists conscientiously opposed to
dispensing the drug, according to the U.S. bishops’ pro-life spokeswoman.
The FDA announced July 31 that it would work with Duramed, a subsidiary
of Barr Pharmaceuticals that manufactures the drug marketed as Plan B,
to develop a “framework for moving emergency contraception medication
to over-the-counter status” for women 18 and older.
Deirdre McQuade of the U.S. bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities
criticized the FDA’s decision in a July 31 statement.
Plan B uses large doses of birth-control pills to prevent conception up
to 72 hours after unprotected sex.
“But even its proponents admit that it works both before and after
conception,” McQuade said, adding that many women are “unaware
of (the pills’) abortifacient action.”
“Making this powerful, abortifacient drug available without a doctor’s
oversight could place women and their newly conceived children at risk,”
she said.
“Women for whom the drug is dangerous would not have the benefit
of any clinical advice to alert them to the risks.”
McQuade also said FDA approval of over-the-counter sales would “place
additional pressure on pharmacists who conscientiously object to dispensing
drugs that kill humans at their earliest stages of development.”
Barr Pharmaceuticals originally had sought approval for over-the-counter
sales of Plan B to anyone 16 or over. Then-FDA Commissioner Lester M.
Crawford announced in August 2005 that the agency would not grant such
approval and set a 60-day period for comment. Crawford resigned his post
that October.
