Currently, the morning-after pill is accessable over the counter to women over the age of 17. Albeit, one still must go to the pharmacist counter and ask for it (they do this with Sudafed, but that’s only because people use it to make crystal meth), and provide a government issued ID (they don’t do this with Sudafed, even though people use it to make crystal meth).
The over-the-counter age was moved from 18 to 17 last year after the CRR took the FDA to court, pointing out that they ignored science and based their decisions on the presciption status of the morning-after pill on political agendas. According to the CRR:
In its decision, the Court found that the FDA “acted in bad faith and in response to political pressure,” “departed in significant ways from the agency’s normal procedures,” and engaged in “repeated and unreasonable delays.” In addition, the court found that the FDA’s justification for denying over-the-counter access to 17-year-olds “lacks all credibility,” and was based on “fanciful and wholly unsubstantiated ‘enforcement’ concerns.”
The CRR says they suspect these “enforcement concerns” came from as far up as “the [Bush] White House” but remain in place despite the change in office and tongue lashing from the judge.
This week, the CRR announced that they are taking the FDA back to court to revisit the restrictions on the drug.
The FDA should just listen to the bunnies. What do bunnies have to do with emergency contraception? Nothing. They’re about as arbitrary and “fanciful” as the FDA’s whimsical decision making regarding it.
Update: Bunnies still have nothing to do with emergency contraception, but apparently they have something to do with pregnancy. From my mother: “Maybe you can be excused due to your age, but as a writer and an avid Mad Men fanatic you should be aware of the ‘rabbit test‘ to detect positive pregnancy hormones.” Touché, mama, touché. Also: medical science is weird!
Tell the FDA to Act on Emergency Contraception from Center for Reproductive Rights on Vimeo.
