Director quits FDA in protest
By
Sue Davis
Published Sep 10, 2005 9:09 PM
Susan F. Wood, director for the past five years of
the Office of Women’s Health at the Food and Drug Administration, resigned
on Aug. 31 in protest over the FDA’s recent failure to authorize
over-the-counter distribution of the so-called “morning after
pill.”
“I have spent the last 15 years working to ensure that
science informs good health policy decision,” Wood wrote in her
resignation. “I can no longer serve as staff when scientific and clinical
evidence, fully evaluated and recommended for approval by the professional staff
here, has been overruled.”
Wood was responding to an announcement on
Aug. 26 by FDA Commissioner Lester M. Crawford that the agency would
indefinitely delay deciding whether to allow over-the-counter sales of the
emergency contraception, known officially as Plan B, because it didn’t
know how to limit sales to women 17 and older.
Pro-choice advocates have
since pointed out that states currently curtail sales of liquor and cigarettes
to minors. Eight states already allow non-prescription sales of the pill without
restrictions. Republican governors of Massachusetts and New York recently vetoed
bills allowing access in their states, in lock-step with the Bush
anti-reproductive rights agenda.
Although an independent advisory
committee, the FDA’s regulatory staff and the head of the agency’s
drug center all recommended that Plan B be approved, Crawford took it upon
himself to overrule them. A number of women’s groups, including the Black
Women’s Health Imperative, Our Bodies, Ourselves Book Collective, the
National Organization for Women and the National Women’s Health Network,
charged Crawford with advancing the Bush anti-choice agenda.
In fact,
Crawford’s unilateral action has been hailed by anti-abortion groups,
which say, unscientifically and misleadingly, that the pill causes abortions.
What these groups don’t say is that they also oppose contraception and
promote only religious-based, abstinence-only sex education for teens.
“I feel very strongly that this shouldn’t be about abortion
politics,” Wood told the Sept. 1 New York Times. “This is a way to
prevent unwanted pregnancy and thereby prevent abortion. This should be
something that we should all agree on.”
Ellen Catalinotto, a
certified nurse midwife of more than 20 years who specializes in teen
pregnancies, believes that the pill should not be restricted to older teens.
“The ‘morning after pill’ is very appropriate for teens having
unexpected and unprotected sex because they often can’t admit being
sexually active and they lack access to health insurance and other methods of
contraception,” she said.
Noting that the teen pregnancy rate has
fallen in recent years, Catalinotto added, “This pill will only help it
drop more.” Statistics compiled by the Alan Gutt macher Institute show
that emergency contraception was responsible for a 43 percent decline in
abortion between 1994 and 2000. For other such statistics and a description of
how the pill works, go to www.guttmacher.org.
Note: The National Network
of Abortion Funds has set up an emergency fund to help women in the Gulf region
affected by the hurricane. In a statement announcing the fund, it stated that
“women who currently need abortions may very likely have to seek
second-trimester abortions and will need increased funding necessary for later
procedures.” To find out more about the fund and to donate, go to
www.nnaf.org.
Articles copyright 1995-2012 Workers World.
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