As Ann noted last week, the end of the FDA's "comment period" on Plan B’s over-the-counter status came and passed without much action. Shocker.
But on Thursday, four members of Congress introduced a bill to force the FDA to decide whether EC can be sold without a prescription.
Reps. Carolyn Maloney (D-N.Y.), Christopher Shays (R-Conn.), Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) and Jay Inslee (D-Wash.) sponsored the bill, which would automatically make emergency contraception available for over-the-counter sale 30 days after the bill's passage, until the FDA make a decision. I love it. Someone needs to force these fuckers to stop stalling.
But of course, not all women would have access--women under 17 wouldn’t be able to buy EC without a prescription. You know, cause much better that teens get an abortion than prevent an unwanted pregnancy. Sigh.
Via Women’s Health News.
UPDATE: Make sure to check out a related Salon piece by Lynn Harris. Harris writes about a New Mexico doctor who has been providing prescriptions for emergency contraception for the last five years on his site, Getthepill.com.
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While I am all for having EC available over the counter to all women, I don't know if I like the idea of encouraging congress to try and make decisions about drug safety for the FDA. Granted, the FDA is currently brimming with morons who are just as or less equipped than congress to make these decisions, but we need to get those people out of the FDA, instead of trusting congress to do their job for them.