The president of the nation’s biggest abortion business is upset that her political ally Kathleen Sebelius, the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, rejected a company’s bid to see the morning after pill over the counter to underage girls.
Cecile Richards released a letter today to demand a meeting with Sebelius concerning the decision.
“I write to request a meeting to discuss the Department of Health and Human Services’ decision yesterday to overrule the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and deny Teva Women’s Health Inc’s application to make Plan B One-Step emergency contraception available over the counter to women of all reproductive age,” she said.
“All women deserve timely access to emergency contraception and Teva’s proposal to lift the unnecessary and burdensome barriers to EC was both based on sound science and in the interest of public health. HHS’ decision to overrule the FDA hurts all women by imposing arbitrary restrictions on a product that is only effective when taken in a timely manner,” Richards wrote.
The Obama administration was examining the possibility of selling the morning after pill to teenagers and the FDA had until today to respond to a request from the maker of the Plan B drug to sell it on the shelves and not behind the pharmacist’s counter. However, although the FDA initially approved the decision, the HHS department overruled it.
The FDA has already taken the health and safety of women out of the hands of doctors. The FDA originally approved the morning after pill at the end of the Clinton administration in 1999 and, in 2006, it was approved for nonprescription use for women 18 and older. Previously, a federal court ordered the Food and Drug Administration to reconsider its decision preventing minors from purchasing the morning after pill without a prescription.
HHS Secretary Sebelius said there was not enough information on who the drug affects teens to make the decision.
She said in a statement: “The average age of the onset of menstruation for girls in the United States is 12.4 years. However, about ten 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. If the application were approved, the product would be available, without prescription, for all girls of reproductive age.”
“Because I do not believe enough data were presented to support the application to make Plan B One-Step available over the counter for all girls of reproductive age, I have directed FDA to issue a complete response letter denying the supplemental new drug application (SNDA) by Teva Women’s Health, Inc,” Sebelius continued.
The decision is shocking given that the Obama administration how 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.
Today, Obama defended the decision and said he wasn’t involved in making it.
The decision received praise from pro-life groups like the Family Research Council.
Jeanne Monahan, Director of Family Research Council’s Center for Human Dignity, told LifeNews, “A decision to make Plan B available for girls under the age of 17 without a prescription would not have been in the interest of young women’s health. Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was right to reject the FDA recommendation to make this potent drug available over the counter to young girls. In her own words, the research submitted to the FDA did not include data for all ages for which the drug would be used.”
“Additionally, young people have approximately half of the sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) nationwide, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The availability of Plan B over-the-counter for all ages would have bypassed necessary routine medical care for sexually active girls. And a study released in 2010 revealed that adolescent use of Plan B was correlated with an increase in unplanned pregnancies and a high STD rate,” she said.
“There is also the issue of sexual abuse and exploitation. The average age of a girl who is sexually trafficked in the U.S. is 13 to 14. There is a real danger that Plan B could be given to young women, especially sexually abused minors, under coercion or without their consent. Interaction with medical professionals is a major screening and defense mechanism for victims of sexual abuse,” she continued. “Finally, Plan B can act in a way that can destroy life by preventing implantation. Women of all ages have the right to know how this drug may act in their bodies and on their newly developing babies.”
