] The Food and Drug Administration yesterday rejected
] over-the-counter sales of the emergency contraceptive
] Plan B, saying the distributor had not proved that young
] teenagers can take the drug safely without a doctor's
] guidance.
]
] The decision was an unusual repudiation of the lopsided
] recommendation of the agency's own expert advisory panel,
] which voted 23 to 4 late last year that the drug should be
] sold over the counter and then, that same day, 27 to 0
] that the drug could be safely sold as an over-the-counter
] medication.

[ In other words, despite the science and medical avisors, and what appears to be a number of the top journals and professional groups, giving the thumbs up, the FDA says no.

So ok, on the face of it, I recognize that it's a sticky issue, giving 14 year old girls access to anti-pregnancy drugs without the need for a prescription. There are valid concerns on both sides of the debate. Still, it seems to me like all the people who are applauding this decision are the hardcore rightwing contingent, and a number of organizations dedicated to people's actual health are pretty unhappy.

Last bit, and it's about how the right controls image so much better than the left... they're "Pro-Life", which implicitly makes us "Anti-Life" or, as said in the article "Pro-abortion". This conflation of "pro-choice" and "pro-abortion" is exactly the kind of thing the right does to us far better than we do it to them. It sucks. Why can't I be pro-choice and anti-abortion? Well, it's because it's a marginally nuanced stance which isn't as black and white as people want everything to be, so it's ignored. Just a peeve of mine. -k]

Plan B Won't Be Sold Over Counter (washingtonpost.com)