Although the FDA approved the morning-after abortion drug to be sold in grocery stores just like candy, Kathleen Sebelius, Obama's HHS secretary, overruled the bureaucrats lest the White House be the the subject of scorn by the vast majority of America.
President Obama has denied having anything to do with either the FDA approval or the decision of Kathleen Sebelius.
The morning-after pill remains available to girls seventeen and older without a prescription by simply asking the pharmacist behind the counter.
For background, read Illinois Pro-life Pharmacists Win Against Plan B and also read Enabling Men to Push The Pill on Girls as well as Federal Judge Orders "Plan B" Pill to Younger Teens
-- From "Morning-After Pill Curb is First Time Ever FDA Overruled by U.S. Chief" by Anna Edney and Drew Armstrong, Bloomberg 12/8/11
Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius ordered Margaret Hamburg, the Food and Drug Administration chief, to reject the application by Petach Tikva, Israel-based Teva, citing potential sales to girls younger than age 17. Hamburg said she was ready yesterday to approve sales of Plan B One-Step without a prescription to women of all ages based on “science-based evidence.” The FDA said it was the first time HHS has overruled an agency approval.
Teva’s product reduces pregnancy risk if taken within three days of sex. As a result of Sebelius’s order, the pill will continue to be kept behind pharmacy counters and sold without prescription only to women 17 and older. Younger girls may obtain the drug with a doctor’s order.
Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, compared the Obama administration to that of former President George W. Bush, saying both are guilty of “playing politics with women’s health.”
Susan Wood, who resigned as the FDA’s women’s health director in 2005 because of the delay in approving over-the-counter emergency contraception, said she was shocked and disturbed by the administration’s move.
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From "Obama Says He Didn't Intervene Over Plan B" by Laura Meckler and Jennifer Corbett Dooren, Wall Street Journal 12/8/11
The politics of the decision could have cut two ways for Mr. Obama. Had his administration allowed unrestricted sales of the drug, critics were sure to attack him from the political right. Some social conservatives view the use of the "morning after"drug as akin to abortion, and they were likely to accuse the president of affording young girls the ability to end a pregnancy on their own.
Administration officials said the White House learned from Ms. Sebelius her plans to maintain the restrictions on the drug's sales. White House officials said she made the decision on her own. But the president agreed with her, they said, and the White House didn't work to change her mind.
The Center for Reproductive Rights, a liberal advocacy group, petitioned the FDA in 2001 to make all brands of Plan B available over the counter, and sued the FDA in federal court over the issue in 2005. In 2009, the judge in the case ordered the FDA to "reconsider its decision regarding the Plan B switch to OTC use."
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From "Plan B Aftermath: Democratic Women In Congress Go Easy On Obama" reported by Huffington Post 12/8/11
Women's rights groups expressed outrage on Wednesday when a top Obama administration official overruled a recommendation from government scientists to expand access to the morning-after pill, but Democratic members of Congress are being far more cautious with their criticism.
Many reproductive rights groups openly questioned whether the Obama administration was putting electoral politics above sound science ahead of next year's election.
Obama said on Thursday that he had nothing to do with Sebelius' decision, but that he fully stood behind it. Democratic lawmakers who supported the FDA recommendation, for the most part, are holding their fire, breaking with the national organizations, at least for now.
The decision over whether to restrict access to emergency contraception has been embroiled in politics since 2005. The American Medical Association, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the American Academy of Pediatrics have all strongly endorsed over-the-counter access to Plan B with no age restrictions, so that it could be found on pharmacy shelves as easily as Tylenol. But the FDA suspiciously delayed the decision under the George W. Bush administration in 2005, prompting a legal investigation.
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From "HHS Says No to Teens Buying Plan B Without Prescription" by Steven Ertelt, LifeNews.com 12/7/11
The decision is shocking given that the Obama administration [has] kowtowed to the abortion industry in every other area since Obama was elected in 2008 and this marks the first time Obama has crossed pro-abortion groups like Planned Parenthood and NARAL that lobbied for approval of selling the rug to minors without a doctor’s prescription.
Jeanne Monahan of the Family Research Council, told the Post the morning after pill can work as an abortion drug if it prevents a newly-conceived unborn child from implanting and continuing pregnancy.
“It’s not a drug that prevents life — it’s a drug that destroys life,” said Monahan. “If we define life as beginning at fertilization or conception, then this drug can be an abortifacient.”
The morning after pill has done nothing to significantly curb the number of abortions.
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From "FDA considers making abortifacient Plan B available to minor girls over-the-counter" by Ben Johnson, LifeSiteNews.com 12/7/11
Janice Shaw Crouse, a Senior Fellow at Concerned Women for America said allowing children to purchase the drug without parental knowledge or consent undermines their ability to raise their own children. She added, “Even young children would be subject to an unscrupulous man who wants to take advantage of their vulnerability.”
She added that forcing store employees to distribute a potential abortifacient would represent a “complete disregard for the religious beliefs of people who feel very strongly about taking innocent human life, who must choose between following their consciences and losing their jobs.”
Although WebMD notes the pill may prevent ovulation or fertilization, the medical website acknowledges, “this type of emergency birth control prevents implantation of a fertilized egg in your uterus by altering its lining.”
Recent evidence from Europe suggests Plan B does little to reduce overall pregnancy rates but may encourage riskier sexual behavior. A study of the United Kingdom’s Teenage Pregnancy Strategy program, in which the government distributes the Morning After Pill to teenagers free of charge, found that pregnancy rates of minors under 16 remained static, while sexually transmitted diseases increased by 12 percent.
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