Administration Nixes Over the Counter Morning After Pill

The Obama Administration and Health and Human Services Secretary, former (halleluiah!) Kansas Governor Kathleen Sibelius, have overruled the FDA and denied permission for the morning-after birth control pill “Plan-B” to be marketed over the counter, the Washington Post reports.

Otherwise the controversial pill would have been available without a prescription to anyone who wished to buy it — of whatever age.

In a statement, FDA Administrator Margaret A. Hamburg said she had decided the medication could be used safely by girls and women of all ages. But she added that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius had rejected the move.

“I agree … there is adequate and reasonable, well-supported, and science-based evidence that Plan B One-Step is safe and effective and should be approved for nonprescription use for all females of child-bearing potential,” Hamburg said.

Sibelius apparently either disagreed or was ordered to disagree, saying she didn’t believe the studies:
“conclusively establish” that it could be used safely by girls of all ages.
“About 10 percent of girls are physically capable of bearing children by 11.1 years of age. It is common knowledge that there are significant cognitive and behavioral differences between older adolescent girls and the youngest girls of reproductive age,” Sebelius said. “If the application were approved, the product would be available, without prescription, for all girls of reproductive age.”

Predictably the pro abortion types came out of the wood work:

“We are outraged that this administration has let politics trump science,” said Kirsten Moore of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project, a Washington-based advocacy group. “There is no rationale for this move. This is unprecedented as evidenced by the commissioner’s own letter. Unbelievable.”

Really? When have they ever let science trump politics? You mean like when they continue to push “green jobs” and “green energy” in order to combat the increasingly discredited theory of AGW?

Or maybe it was the Solyndra debacle, or any of a dozen others?

Look, this was a good move. Probably not for the reasons they made it, however. Having this pill available over the counter would have taken yet more control away from parents. It’s not hard to get this pill. If your daughter thinks she might need it, you can take her down to the doctor and get the pill — easy. But parents should have that ability and the government shouldn’t be taking it away from them by issuing an OTC approval which was just as politically motivated as the denial.