Washington D.C., Aug 21, 2006 / 22:00 pm
President George Bush shocked the pro-life movement with his support for over-the-counter access to abortion-drug Plan B, also known as the morning-after pill, for adults. However, Plan B “ought to require a prescription for minors,” he said.
Bush’s words of support came at a White House press conference yesterday, when he was asked by the Washington Examiner’s Bill Sammon about Plan B and his new FDA commissioner who supports its over-the-counter status.
“President Bush’s implied support of over-the-counter status for the abortion-causing drug Plan B is a betrayal of the pro-life principles he claims to support,” said Stephen Peroutka, Esq., chairman of the National Pro-Life Action Center.
“If this dangerous drug is made available over-the-counter, it will give adult male predators another weapon in their arsenal against young women,” he added.
Fr. Thomas Euteneuer, president of Human Life International added that the president’s statement is also "completely inconsistent with his recent veto of the embryonic stem-cell research (ESCR) funding bill.
“What the president apparently fails to realize is that Plan B kills the same innocent unborn children that the ESCR process does," said the priest in a statement.
"The president must demonstrate a consistent respect for the sanctity of all human life or he risks provoking a great divorce with the conservative Catholics that comprise a large part of his support base,” Fr. Euteneuer continued. “Human beings in the embryonic stage of development deserve equal protection under the law and the president's position falls far short of that mark."
FDA Commissioner Dr. Andy von Eschenbach has said he would support making the abortion drug available without a prescription to women, aged 18 and up. Pro-life groups called for his resignation last week over his support for the drug.
According to LifeSiteNews.com, Concerned Women for America had blasted the decision, pointing out a clear incongruence: Plan B would be available without medical supervision while a low-dose of the same drug, found in birth control pills, requires medical oversight to protect women from serious health complications.