Postpartisan depression: The Democrats join the War On Women
by digby
Good news. It looks like we’ve finally gotten the long awaited post-partisan achievement: the Democrats have joined the war on science. And women! It’s a twofer:
In what can only be called an astounding move by an Administration that pledged on inauguration day that medical and health decisions would be based on fact not ideology and for which women are a major constituency, today Kathleen Sebelius, Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) overruled a much-awaited decision by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to make emergency contraception (EC) available over-the-counter (OTC) to women of all ages.
According to the New York Times, “no health secretary has ever [overruled an FDA decision] before.”
EC has been available over-the-counter for women ages 18 and older for at least two years. The FDA has been further reviewing data on whether the method should be available OTC without a prescription to those age 17 and younger at risk from unprotected intercourse.
In a statement this afternoon FDA underscored that it “had been carefully evaluating for over a decade whether emergency contraceptives containing levonorgestrel, such as Plan B One-Step, are safe and effective for nonprescription use to reduce the chance of pregnancy after unprotected sexual intercourse.”
Experts, noted the statement, “including obstetrician/gynecologists and pediatricians, reviewed the totality of the data and agreed that it met the regulatory standard for a nonprescription drug and that Plan B One-Step should be approved for all females of child-bearing potential.”
So, the battle is obviously no longer only about abortion (if you had any doubts.) In this case, it’s about denying emergency birth control for the very people who are most likely to need it — teenagers — and are the least likely to seek a prescription.
I’m guessing the official rationale here is that parents need to be informed if their 17 year old daughters are having sex. That’s very, very practical. I’m sure this will result in much closer parental guidance for their teenagers’ sexuality. Lord knows, that age group has never had sex until now but who knows what will happen if they get a “get out of jail free” card and go wild? Why, they’ll just start sleeping with each other all over the place.
The data shows that teenage girls can handle this:
CDER carefully considered whether younger females were able to understand how to use Plan B One-Step. Based on the information submitted to the agency, CDER determined that the product was safe and effective in adolescent females, that adolescent females understood the product was not for routine use, and that the product would not protect them against sexually transmitted diseases. Additionally, the data supported a finding that adolescent females could use Plan B One-Step properly without the intervention of a healthcare provider.
Teenage girls are dealing with all sorts of “down there” bodily accoutrements, so I think they can read the instructions and understand what it all means. The idea that they need to see a doctor (and probably tell their parents) is nothing more than an attempt to make it difficult for them to use this without involving adult authority in their sexual behavior — the very last thing they want to do. This form of birth control works when someone uses it immediately after unprotected sex. Making them go through hoops totally defeats the purpose.
If parents are worried that their girls are having sex without their knowledge, they need to wake up to the fact that they probably are. Requiring a prescription for this form of birth control will not change that, it just makes it more likely that their daughter will get pregnant. Why parents think that’s a good result I don’t know.
I’m all for parents talking about sex with their kids and passing on their values. But making teenagers bear children against their will for succumbing to the most natural, biological urge in human experience seems like a dreadful, superstitious value to me. Making it more likely that they’ll have an abortion seems like some kind of cosmic joke.
And those who are sentencing young women to a life’s promise cut short by early parenthood because of some religious belief that having non-procreative sex is a sin that must be punished are, in my mind, working for the other side (if you know what I mean.) It’s just wrong and I continue to be gobsmacked that I’m living in 2011 and these throwback views are once again gaining in currency.
Kathleen Sebelius is now going to eat the sins of the administration. I hope she likes the taste of it.
“This decision is stunning,” said Susan Wood, former head of the FDA’s Office of Women’s Health who resigned in protest over the agency’s handling of the drug in 2005.
“I had come to believe that the FDA would be allowed to make decisions based on science and the public’s health. Sadly, once again, FDA has been over-ruled and not allowed to do its job,” Wood said in a statement.
Yeah, a lot of people thought that.
Update II: I’m hearing that this is the fault of the women’s groups for not being better organized. Normally, I would agree that they are pretty hapless — and hopelessly compromised. But all indications are that they were told this was a done deal and they were taken by surprise by the move.
But it always kind of amazes me that women are considered a discrete special interest that requires organized advocacy groups to labor on our behalf. We are half the population.
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