Health Secretary Sebelius Blocks Wider Access to Plan B

[BSB]

Sebelius overrules FDA, blocks access to morning-after pill

By Sam Baker  -  12/07/11 12:49 PM ET 

Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius on Wednesday overruled federal drug regulators to block wider access to the controversial contraceptive known as Plan B.
In a decision critics said could only be explained by politics, Sebelius ruled that women younger than 17 will still need a prescription to get Plan B, which is sometimes called the morning-after pill.
Scientists at the Food and Drug Administration determined that Plan B should be made available over-the-counter without a prescription to women of all ages, according to a statement from FDA Commissioner
Margaret Hamburg. And Hamburg agreed with their decision. But Sebelius intervened to block over-the-counter access to minors.
 
Congressional Republicans had threatened a severe blowback if the FDA approved wider access to Plan B. Conservatives consider Plan B an abortion-causing drug and have led the charge to ban minors from getting the drug without parental consent, although those efforts have failed in the courts because they violate minors' privacy rights.

Allowing the regulators' decision to move forward also would likely have led to criticism of Obama from the GOP presidential field.


http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/abortion/197825-sebelius-overrules-fda-blocks-access-to-plan-b

[Xavier_Onassis]

They want to keep Plan B behind the pharmacy counter, where less will be sold, and they can enlist pharmacists who are anti-choice into refusing to sell it.

I saw this as a bad decision at first, but I do not know whether there really is an increased danger to younger girls. There might or might not be something to that, so perhaps it is reasonable.

[BSB]

I see it as a bad decision. Further, I see it as another let down on the part of the Obama administration. She's his Secretary. This administrating was supposed to do away with religion, and politics, trumping science. The contraceptive has to be used within 72 hours. If a 16 year old is concerned and doesn't want to be embarrassed by calling her doctor, or going to the ER, or whatever, she can't get it.

Obama has backed down over and over again. He talked about the audacity of hope. How about the audacity of change? Can we see a little of that please?

BSB

[Xavier_Onassis]

If there is no real health concern, they should put Plan B on the shelves immediately.

I am not an expert on gynecology, so I cannot say for sure whether her decision was based on politics (which would be a bad move) or actual scientific evidence about health concerns.

Nor, I imagine, are you.

[BT]

Scientists at the Food and Drug Administration determined that Plan B should be made available over-the-counter without a prescription to women of all ages, according to a statement from FDA Commissioner Margaret Hamburg. And Hamburg agreed with their decision.

The scientists said it was safe for all ages.

The politicians said it wasn't safe for them to OK it for the 17 and unders.

And so it goes.

[Xavier_Onassis]

If medical science says it is safe, then they should put it on the shelves for anyone to buy.

[BT]

If medical science says it is safe, then they should put it on the shelves for anyone to buy.

They won't if it costs them the percentage of votes they think it will.
Maybe next year they will rethink it if Obama is re-elected.

And they can blame the rise in teenage pregnancies on the GOP because the GOP certainly would have made political hay out of the over the counter approval, and that would be a distraction from taking money away from the 1% and other worthy national goals.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Teen pregnancies have gone down recently, by the way.

I don't know whether this would lose them votes or not.

Some Republicans would take Plan B off the market entirely: that is what the Church wants.

[BSB]

If it wasn't based on science during the Bush administration, than either the science has changed, or this White House is just as chickenshit as the prior White House. I'm betting on the latter.

Union of Concerned Scientists

http://www.ucsusa.org/scientific_integrity/abuses_of_science/emergency-contraception.html

[Plane]

  Lets all take large doses of hormones, harmlessly.

[Xavier_Onassis]

Lets all take large doses of hormones, harmlessly.

========================================
Getting pregnant is the alternative, and that is not harmless, either.

The difficulty is mostly that the users will not follow the directions on the package, and surely many will not. But the net gain will probably be positive.

[Plane]

Lets all take large doses of hormones, harmlessly.

========================================
Getting pregnant is the alternative, and that is not harmless, either.

The difficulty is mostly that the users will not follow the directions on the package, and surely many will not. But the net gain will probably be positive.

If you are not already pregnant, what is the need?

Before you were pregnant , then there were alternatives.

[BSB]

The difficulty is mostly the upcoming election, not whether young people will follow the directions or not.


BSB