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Doctor's Prescriptions Protect Women from Risks of Morning-After Pill

CWA calls on FDA to refuse weak restrictions

WASHINGTON, April 13, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Concerned Women for America continues to call on the Food and Drug Administration to require a prescription for the morning-after pill to protect women's health and safety.

"The restrictions being floated of requiring under-16-year-olds to have a prescription or keeping it behind the counter do not address the serious scientific and medical concerns raised about easy access to the morning-after pill," said Wendy Wright, senior policy director for Concerned Women for America. "The drug has not been studied to determine what happens to women who use it multiple times, nor has the effect on adolescents. In countries that allowed pharmacists to distribute the drug without a prescription, the sexually transmitted disease (STD) rates increased. Several countries found that young girls are using it multiple times."

LifeSiteNews.com reported last week on a study from Nottingham University's Professor David Paton on sex education, the morning-after pill, pregnancy and STDs. His statistics show that areas where the morning-after pill was made available free of charge had seen no reduction in teenage pregnancy rates, but STD rates had risen.

"It's a ridiculous notion that putting an age restriction on who buys the drug does anything to address who consumes the drug," said Wright. "An 18-year-old store clerk could sell it to his 17-year-old friend (or a 40-year-old statutory rapist), who then slips it to his 15-year-old girlfriend -- who may then suffer a serious complication caused by the drug aggravating an existing medical condition.

"Rather than address these concerns, proponents claim opposition is based on 'politics.' This is quite revealing. Apparently to them, women's medical health and public health are only 'political' and should not be considered. Either they choose to ignore the scientific and medical arguments because they do not have an answer, or they simply do not care what happens to women and girls."

Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage, "UK Study Reveals Reproductive Health Clinics for Teens Increases STD and Out-of-Wedlock Births," at:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/apr/04040501.html

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