Months After Report Finds Inappropriate Behavior with Morning After

from The League: Reassembled

We at the League cried foul earlier this year when the Food and Drug Administration rejected a plan to allow over-the-counter sale of the morning-after emergency contraception pill. It appeared that the agency's political appointees were overriding the medical decision of an FDA advisory panel of scientists who concluded "the drug could be safely used as an over-the-counter drug by women older than 17."

Our hunch was validated on Monday with a release of a Government Accountability Office report which found that the decision process was "unusual." The report cited evidence that the decision to prohibit over-the-counter sale of the medication was made early in the review process by high-level officials with apparent disregard for the results of any scientific findings.

The report's findings are disturbing. The FDA was involved in an indefensible misuse of the regulatory agency's authority, impeding medical progress at the expense of personal liberty and privacy rights. The agency should be in the business of determining the safety and efficacy of drugs, not making judgments on their moral implications. "FDA" stands for "Food and Drug Administration," not "Food, Drug and Morality Patrol."

from The League: Reassembled