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Director quits FDA in protest

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.