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Emergency contraception at last

It took three years of machinations and maneuvering, but the Food and Drug Administration has finally approved over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception for women 18 and older. This will expand women's reproductive choices and reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions. There is no excuse for the FDA to have taken this long.

Plan B emergency contraception is really just a concentrated form of typical oral contraception. It is, by all legitimate scientific measures, safe and effective. If the two-pill regimen is taken within 72 hours of sexual intercourse, pregnancy can be avoided.

The short time frame makes it imperative that women have quick and easy access to this form of birth control and not have to wait for a doctor to fill out a prescription. But because a narrow segment of the antiabortion community is opposed to the contraception, viewing it as an abortifacient, and because the Bush administration responds to that constituency, over-the-counter approval was held hostage to politics.

It wasn't until two Democratic senators made clear that there would be no action on the confirmation of acting FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach until there had been a determination on Plan B that a decision was made. Women will now be able to access it without a prescription, though it will be held by pharmacies behind the counter and only be released upon proof of age.

Requiring minors to get a doctor's prescription for the contraceptive was a reasonable compromise. The FDA claimed that the cutoff was needed so that doctors or a licensed practitioner could instruct adolescents on how to properly administer the regimen.

Because of the Bush administration's appeasement of antiabortion activists, easy access to Plan B was held up for years by the FDA. We are glad to see the agency finally came to its senses.

[Last modified August 29, 2006, 01:17:47]