In contrast to the past, the Obama FDA's rush to put the latest "emergency contraceptive pill" on the market will result in more women harmed and more death of unborn babies.
UPDATE 10/1/10 video:
UPDATE 8/3/11: Don't be Misled, Ella Drug Causes Abortions
UPDATE 7/19/11: NPR, Planned Parenthood Mislead on Abortion Nature of Ella Drug
UPDATE 9/21/10: Dangers of ‘Emergency Contraception’ Drug
-- From "F.D.A. Approves 5-Day Emergency Contraceptive" by Gardiner Harris, New York Times 8/13/10
The pill, called ella, will be available by prescription only. Developed in government laboratories, it is more effective than Plan B, the morning-after pill now available over the counter to women 17 and older.
That [Plan B] pill gradually loses efficacy and can be taken at most three days after sex. Ella, by contrast, works just as well on the fifth day as the first after sex.
Women who have unprotected intercourse have about 1 chance in 20 of becoming pregnant. Those who take Plan B within three days cut that risk to about 1 in 40, while those who take ella would cut that risk to about 1 in 50, regulators say. Studies show that ella is less effective in obese women.
Still, the decision by the Food and Drug Administration to approve ella, less than two months after a federal advisory committee voted unanimously to recommend approval, marks a decided shift for the agency.
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From "FDA approves ella as 5-day-after emergency contraceptive" by Rob Stein, Washington Post Staff Writer 8/14/10
The decision to allow the sale of the pill, which will be marketed under the brand name "ella," was welcomed by family-planning proponents as a crucial new option to prevent unwanted pregnancies. But critics condemned the decision, arguing that it was misleading to approve ella as a contraceptive because the drug could also be used to induce an abortion.
If the history of Plan B is any indication, ella's approval is likely to mark the beginning of many years of political and regulatory battles over the drug.
Critics are already concerned that ella's approval as a contraceptive will make it eligible to receive federal tax subsidies, which are banned for the abortion pill RU-486,. They also are concerned that ella will be included in the services that health plans will have to pay for under the new health-care overhaul law.
"By misclassifying ella as emergency contraception, this administration has paved the way to covertly allow federal funding for abortion," said Rep. Christopher H. Smith (R-N.J.), who called on Obama to issue an executive order prohibiting federal funds from paying for ella.
Ella is also likely to exacerbate a long-running debate over whether doctors have an obligation to write prescriptions for medication they oppose on moral grounds and whether pharmacists have an obligation to fill them. Many doctors and pharmacists refuse to write or fill prescriptions for Plan B or refer patients elsewhere for it.
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