Posted on 12/08/2005 12:37:44 PM PST by Diana in Wisconsin
State wants FDA to release 'morning after' pill
Gov. Jim Doyle (D, WI) has authorized the state to sue the federal Food and Drug Administration for delaying approval of over-the-counter sales of Plan B, the so-called "morning-after pill."
The "FDA's postponements in making a decision is the result of politics, not science, and negatively impacts the health of women," Doyle wrote in a letter Wednesday to Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager.
Lautenschlager wrote Doyle last week asking for permission to file suit.
Kelda Helen Roys, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin, applauded the governor's move.
"His authorization recognizes that women's health should be more important than the political gamesmanship of conservative ideologues," Roys said. "The Bush administration interference has likely cost the state millions and cost women their basic right to access health care."
Sue Armacost of Wisconsin Right to Life said her group is not taking a position on the lawsuit.
But Matt Sande, director of legislative affairs for Pro-Life Wisconsin, said he was disappointed.
"We are outraged the governor would give credence to this and authorize it," Sande said.
He also said Lautenschlager, who is running for re-election, was looking for political points.
"She is alleging political motivations by the FDA, and she has her own political motivations."
Lautenschlager needs approval from Doyle so the Justice Department can receive technical assistance from the state Department of Health and Family Services, which administers a variety of medical programs.
The governor must also approve lawsuits in which the state sues the federal government.
In seeking permission from Doyle, Lautenschlager said the FDA's delay was unprecedented and could increase the number of unwanted pregnancies in Wisconsin.
"If the FDA had not delayed its decision, it appears likely that there would be substantial differences in the areas of prenatal care, schooling and health costs related to teenage mothers continuing with pregnancies and giving birth, abortion, and complications from abortions."
Studies by the FDA have found the morning-after pill, most commonly packaged as Plan B, to be safe and effective. Yet the agency has repeatedly stalled its approval of over-the-counter sales of the medication.
Critics attribute the approval delays to pressure from the Bush administration and anti-abortion groups. Agency officials say they continue to have safety concerns, particularly over the use of the drug by teenagers.
The leadership in Wisconsin government is pure evil; The Culture of Death continues to march on...
Wisconsin Politics as Usual Ping!
SCOTT WALKER, WHERE ARE YOU?
Great. It's a former classmate of mine running NARAL in Wisconsin. She apparently couldn't find a legal job after law school, so killin' babies was a close second.
if my memory serves me, this drug prevents pregnancy, it doesn't end a life. seems like that would be a good thing for adults to have access to if it is in fact safe.
now keeping it from children is another issue.
Well, your memory does not serve you right.
Is this drug available OTC in any other country? If yes, then has that country collapsed [or is it collapsing] because of it?
The FDA is not a hot bed of pro-life insurgent bureaucrats, just the opposite. If they are foot dragging on approval, I'm betting there is some ugly side effects in the background. A rash of dead teens is not the news cycle the FDA wants to be blamed for.
Doyle is a jerk!
My take on Plan B is that it is a great way to reduce abortions in this country and should be approved asap.
Plan B does not prevet fertilization it causes a spontanous abortion by making the uterus hostile to the fetus.
"My take on Plan B is that it is a great way to reduce abortions in this country and should be approved asap."
As an over-the-counter drug for underage females? Not in my book. That's all the liberals want to settle for in this case. They don't want a doctor involved and they don't want this to be a presciption med.
And it also depends upon what you understand a "pregnancy" as being. If a girl is pregnant, and this drug prohibits the fertilized egg from implanting itself, how is that any different than a self-induced abortion? It's different from the pill, which stops you from ovulating in the first place.
Slippery slope and all that. Just more Culture of Death, IMHO.
why don't you correct me then. how does it work?
Plan B does not prevet fertilization it causes a spontanous abortion by making the uterus hostile to the fetus.
Someone needs to educate doyle and lautenschlager. Drugs, or the lack of access to them, don't cause pregnancy, sex does.
If these chicks don't want to get pregnant they shouldn't be having sex. It's really not that hard to keep your legs closed.
Secondly I don't see how the state of Wisconsin has standing in determining how a federal agency does it's job. Now if they wanted to sue that the FDA should not exist as it's not provided for in the US Constitution they may be able to make their case. But to say that this agency, which Wisconsin recognizes as being legitimate, has to do something Wisconsin's way, is sure to lose if the case ends up before a competant judge (or on appeal if it ends up before a democrat judge)
And if it's not a "baby", then the woman ain't "pregnant". The pro-aborts change the meaning of words several times a day, though.
Doyle is a disgrace and the Catholic bishop up there should excommunicate him - yesterday.
plan b works by preventing a pregnancy--it won't work if you are already pregnant. it is not RU-486, which terminates a pregnacy.
i'm all for working to outlaw abortions--and for restricting the sale/use of RU-486, but i don't see why it's necessary to restrict the ability of adults to acquire and use contraception.
Take it from this 19 year old college student: That's a grand misunderstatement. And with what my generation has been taught (in our shoddy state schools, with shoddy and Clintonist-slant sex ed, they'll be seeking it out like no other. And the usage will skyrocket. And the people having problems with these drugs ten, twenty, thirty years down the line will increase as well.
Case in point. I'm writing this post from the UW-Waukesha library. There are people doing research on the morning after pill a few tables down. Two kids are discussing their friend's coming child (all of whom are my age, I might add). And kids are talking about sex in front of the library.
If this happens, and the Morning-After pill is released OTC, I can tell you all that, with a couple of exceptions, every single young woman I know will probably use it, and every guy will be pushing their girls to use it, assuming they still don't.
In the end, we are the biggest losers in this scheme, with the rest of the State coming in at a close second. And the sole winners in this sick game are Planned Parenthood and the pro-abortion groups.
There is a legit reason why the FDA delayed it. It's called serious health issues that result from drug usage. It's the same general reason why Bextra, Celebrex, Fen-Phen, Vioxx, et al. ad nauseam were yanked off U.S. pharmaceutical shelves.
What this amounts to is a dog and pony show for Uncle Jim and Aunt Peg to score brownie point$ and cold hard campaign ca$h from NARAL, NOW, Planned Parenthood, the ACLU, and the United Council of UW Students. Each of these "Usual Suspects" has obvious personal benefits coming to them, fiduciary or otherwise, in the placing of Plan B on the free market.
I don't know if a WI version of RICO exists, but shouldn't our AG be prosecuting said groups as well as the NEA and WEAC for corrupting the youth of Wisconsin, namely by effectively removing Plan A (abstinence) from the state curriculum?
Finally, as an open question to my fellow FRiends, is there a way the Church can impose a penalty against "Uncle Jim" for this and other pro-abortion acts he's done throughout his term in office?
Pressed by CWA's Wendy Wright at the National Press Club's Newsmaker Forum, Kirsten Moore, president and CEO of Reproductive Health Technologies Project, conceded there is no evidence that easy access to the morning-after pill reduces the number of pregnancies or abortions. And after alleging there have been no increases, she immediately concedes there have been increases in the countries where it is easily available.
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