Washington D.C., May 24, 2004 / 22:00 pm
A public policy analyst with the Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is defending the recent decision, made by the Food and Drug Administration, refusing to make the morning-after pill available over-the-counter.
Since the FDA’s decision, pro-abortion groups have accused the government body of having mixed politics with science and of not having based their decision on sufficient scientific evidence. They have called for an investigation into the decision process and pro-abortion members of Congress have also introduced a bill, the Science Over Politics Act. The act would require the FDA commissioner to state, under penalty of perjury, that his decision was not influenced by politics.
However, Maureen Kramlich, a public policy analyst with the USCCB, has argued that the FDA’s decision is on “solid scientific ground” and that it places “the health interests of women, especially young women and girls, above a for-profit drug company’s financial interests.”
The FDA’s concern about the impact that an over-the-counter designation would have on adolescent girls’ health is well founded, she said.