The Plan B for Plan B Act

The FDA is still stalling. In 2003 the Food and Drug Administration agreed to review the status of Plan B, a form of emergency contraception that is scientifically-proven to be safe and effective, to decide whether the drug would be appropriate for over-the counter status. It still has not made a decision.

In August 2005, Dr. Susan Wood, the FDA's director of the Office of Women's Health, resigned to protest the FDA's treatment of Plan B. The agency's unusual stall tactics prompted an investigation by the independent Government Accountability Office, which found that politics played a significant role in the FDA's refusal to come to a decision on Plan B.

In November 2005, Representative Carolyn R. Maloney, D-NY introduced the Plan B for Plan B Act (H.R. 4229). This bill would require to FDA to issue a decision on the status of Plan B in 30 days. If the FDA did not make a decision within the time limit, the application would be legally approved.

Take Action

• Urge your representatives to co-sponsor the "Plan B for Plan B" Act using a handy form provided by NARAL Pro-Choice America: http://www.prochoiceamerica.org/womenarewaiting_web/

• Thank Representative Carolyn R. Maloney for introducing this bill to Congress:
  http://www.house.gov/maloney/messageform.html

Read More

• Check out our Sex Act from February 2005, "Hey FDA: Don't Play Politics with Emergency Contraception!"

• To read the full text of the bill and check its status in Congress:
  http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:h.r.04229 :

• Plan B website – http://www.go2planb.com/ForConsumers/Index.aspx

• "Morning-After Pill: Politics and the FDA," New York Times -- http://www.rhtp.org/news/articles/RHTPintheNews_805.asp

• "Over-the-Counter Insurgency," Mother Jones Magazine
  http://www.motherjones.com/news/update/2005/11/planb_timeline.html
  Including a helpful timeline of FDA action on Emergency Contraception

Read more!

• You can read the entire FDA report and proposal at www.fda.gov
• LA Times coverage: www.latimes.com
• Mother Jones editorial: www.motherjones.com
• Focus on the Family editorial: www.family.org