Time for Plan C?

In May of 2004, one man overrode an FDA advisory committee's 23 to 4 vote to approve the sale of Plan B over the counter. Director of the agency's drug center, Steven Galson claimed to be concerned that the ready availability of the $29 pill would encourage young girls to engage in risky sex, despite evidence to the contrary.The maker of the drug, Barr Laboratories altered its application to permit over the counter distribution only to girls over the age of 16. And yesterday the FDA once again chose to "delay" making a decision, which means that Plan B remains unavailable over the counter for everyone.Lester Crawford, the commissioner of food and drugs had this to say on the topic:"F.D.A. cannot have an inspector in every pharmacy in the U.S."Clearly, Crawford wants us to believe that, like Galson, he is motivated by concern for young girls who may abuse the $29 pill by stockpiling it then engaging in bucketloads of unsafe sex. Not only do studies indicate that Plan B does not promote promiscuity, but what fifteen-year-old is going to stockpile a pill that costs $29 dollars just in case? Isn't just in case antithetical to the very notion of teen irresponsibility that Crawford and Galson claim to be guarding against? By way of comparison, since 1992 it has been illegal in all 50 states to sell cigarettes to anyone under 18 and we don't have an FDA official stationed at every convenience store, gas station, and deli. And cigarettes kill people.But Crawford and Galson are both Bush appointees so we should expect them to dutifully sell out women's health and freedom for the sake of a half-baked pro-life philosophy (even though Plan B would actually prevent abortions). What's worse is that so-called moderate Republican Governors in two liberal states have towed the same line. Governors George Pataki of New York and Mitt Romney of Massachusetts have rejected statewide plans to distribute Plan B to women over 16 for the same phony reasons. Undoubtedly both men are using this issue to burnish their conservative credentials in anticipation of entering the national political stage. They've done the math. Forget the so-called Big Tent, if you want to be a player in today's Republican Party, you've got to demonstrate solid socially conservative values. And what better way to do that than to deny women's reproductive freedom. Our freedom is the great political chess piece.We should consider Pataki's and Romney's decisions a warning shot. Though some may consider the appearance of either man on the national stage an indication that the Republican Party can be swung back from its current radicalism, we should not underestimate their willingness to sell out.