Dec 8, 2011

For Plan B, a Dose of Reality



The two sides of the abortion debate don't share much in the way of ideology, but there was a common reaction from both camps yesterday after the decision over Plan B: shock. For years, the Left has been pushing to make the "morning-after" pill available for anyone of any age without a prescription. They assumed the Obama administration, headed by the most militant pro-abortion President in history, would go along with the idea. They assumed wrong. Tuesday, the head of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, announced that she was overruling the FDA in one the most jaw-dropping decisions of this White House's term. Sebelius, one of the abortion movement's most reliable allies, agreed with groups like FRC that making Plan B as accessible to buy as aspirin was a dangerous decision, especially for young girls. " ...[T]he switch from prescription to over-the-counter for this product requires that we have enough evidence to show that those who use this medicine can understand the label and use the product appropriately. I do not believe that Teva's application met that standard. The label comprehension and actual use studies did not contain data for all ages for which this product would be available for use." For now, Plan B will stay behind pharmacy counters--where it belongs.

While Sebelius's decision was the right one, it certainly knocked the wind out of the abortion movement. This morning, liberals were still seething that, for once, HHS put women's safety ahead of their radical agenda. Kirsten Moore, part of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project, told the Washington Post that her group is "outraged that this administration has let politics trump science." Funny, they don't seem to mind when the White House is ignoring science on stem cell research, RU-486, or the contraceptive mandate in ObamaCare. The reality is, we shouldn't be lining store shelves with pills packed with several times the hormones of a standard birth control dose.

As FRC's Jeanne Monahan said in dozens of media interviews yesterday, that kind of convenience is not in the best interest of young women's health. Not only is Plan B linked to an increase in teen pregnancies, but a 2010 study found that it's partially responsible for a spike in adolescent STDs. Allowing young girls to buy Plan B directly off store shelves also robs parents of more authority. These are pills that can, in some instances, abort a human life. Surely, moms and dads have a right to know that their daughters are considering these risks. Meanwhile, abortion groups are acting as if Plan B has been outlawed altogether. Hardly. All Sebelius asks is that girls under 16 consult their doctors first. Whatever politics may have motivated yesterday's decision, we applaud HHS for getting this right. When it comes to drugs like Plan B, which FRC has opposed from the beginning, women and their unborn children deserve as much protection as possible.

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