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November 9, 2009

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Letter: Contraception should be sold over the counter

Friday, May 21, 2004 | 9:01 a.m.

The FDA's decision to prevent Plan B emergency contraception from being sold over the counter without a prescription was an obvious political insult to women's reproductive rights and health.

Emergency contraception is a safe and effective method of avoiding unintentional pregnancy, and it meets the FDA's own meticulous scientific standard for over-the-counter status. Additionally, the inaccurate concerns about young women's use of emergency contraception given as the reason for rejections are without foundation.

A University of Pittsburgh study published last month in the Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology demonstrated that access to emergency contraception does not make teenagers more likely to have unprotected sex.

Why did the FDA ignore its own Reproductive Health Drugs and Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committees, which voted 23-4 in December to approve emergency contraception over-the-counter status?

Simple: because anti-choice groups pressured them to do so, and the FDA gave in to political interests and ideological misinformation. Science and public health deserve better.

JARED HAFEN

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