Former FDA Official Speaks On Plan B

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Former FDA Official Speaks On Plan B

Women's Health Expert Says Pill Must More Available

KCCI Television (Des Moines, Iowa), January 6, 2006

The controversy over a form of contraception is being raised Thursday in Des Moines.

The former head of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's Office of Women's Health was in Des Moines Thursday speaking out about why she resigned.

Dr. Susan Wood is traveling around the country to try to make women aware of emergency contraception as a means to reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies. She is in central Iowa speaking at Drake University Thursday and at Iowa State University on Friday.

Wood said Plan B, also called the Morning After pill, is safe and believes it should be sold over the counter because women must take it shortly after intercourse in order to prevent pregnancy. "This is not RU-486, which does cause bleeding, and is a medical form of abortion. This just prevents ovulation so you're never getting pregnant to start with," Wood said.

Wood said the Plan B pill gives women a second chance to prevent an unintended pregnancy if their regular form of birth control fails.

Wood is on a mission after resigning from the FDA where a decision was made to keep Plan B from becoming more available to women.

But anti-abortion activists call Plan B an abortion chemical, and some pharmacists refuse to fill patients' prescriptions. Walgreens and others have policies allowing pharmacists to refuse to fill prescriptions if they are morally opposed.

Hy-Vee in West Des Moines carries the pill, but there are many pharmacies in central Iowa that do not keep it in stock.

"As a company, we feel strongly in respecting the religious and moral beliefs of our employees. So, whenever possible, we do allow our pharmacists to opt-out of filling a prescription if doing so would violate those beliefs," Ruth Comer, of Hy-Vee. "We do know that we are here for the health care needs of the patient. When it comes down to it on a bottom-line basis, that patient will be taken care of. Their prescription will be filled." With Plan B stuck in the abortion debate, Wood said the government is keeping the drug off the shelf.

"This was not looking out for interests of women and their families. This was not looking out for how FDA should be making its decisions, which is based on the evidence," Wood said.

Use of emergency contraception could prevent nearly 2 million unintended pregnancies and 800,000 abortions each year, according to Planned Parenthood. Plan B is available at Planned Parenthood and by prescription.

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