R.I. CATHOLIC EDITORIAL

FDA morning-after pill decision wrong for women and teens

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Ignoring the lives of conceived children, and running the risk of unnecessary side effects, the Food and Drug Administration announced it has expanded over-the-counter access to the so-called “Plan B” morning-after pill for 17-year-olds and adults.

“Plan-B” will now be available without a prescription not only to adults, but also minor children. The powerful drug offers no therapeutic purpose and although advertised as a “contraceptive” it is considered to be 40 times stronger than to comparable birth control-only pills.

This unfortunate decision by the FDA defies common sense as it will now make widely available a powerful drug with multiple harmful side effects without the guidance of a medical professional. However, even more troubling is the decision to allow minors unlimited access to “Plan B” without approval or consent of parents. The decision is an attack upon parental rights over their own children and potentially places millions of young minor women in jeopardy of ingesting a very powerful and harmful drug into their bodies that endangers not only the recently-conceived child but the mother as well. As Dierdre McQuade, Assistant Director for Policy and Communications at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities, said in objecting to the FDA move: “Without the benefit of a doctor’s supervision, many teens will be unaware of this possible abortifacient action and the other risks posed by Levonorgestrel (“Plan-B”), particularly the risks from repeated use.”

The risks associated with unsupervised use and just plain common sense suggest that the FDA missed the mark in making this terrible decision. Pregnant women deserve better than an ill-conceived plan from the nation’s leading medical authority. The FDA fails to understand that “pregnancy is not disease and fertility is not a pathological condition” as McQuade so accurately stated. “Plan B” has been a failure in reducing the rates of unintended pregnancies and abortion and has led only to an increase in risky sexual behavior among teens. This latest decision by the FDA only increases these risks among the teen population of our nation. Women and children deserve better from the Obama administration’s FDA.