WASHINGTON, June 16, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Concerned Women for America (CWA) called the American Medical Association (AMA) irresponsible Tuesday for passing an ideologically driven resolution chastising the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). The FDA recently denied over-the-counter status for Plan B, the morning-after pill, because of the lack of evidence showing the pill’s effect on adolescents.
“Barr Labs, which owns Plan B, could not produce studies proving that the morning-after pill is safe for adolescents,” said Wendy Wright, senior policy director for Concerned Women for America. “Additionally, in countries where the morning-after pill is available without a prescription, researchers find that the sexually transmitted disease (STD) rate skyrockets. It appears that AMA doctors have overlooked the last 30 years of statistics on STDs in teens. They should be doing all they can to reduce STDs, not encourage more cases among their patients.”
The AMA passed two resolutions regarding smoking: that tobacco should only be sold in specialty stores, and encouraging the movie industry to place an “R” rating on all new films in which characters smoke.
“It’s so sad to see the disease of political correctness is choking the once-respected voice of the AMA,” said Wright. “The AMA recognizes the unhealthy effect on behavior of promoting smoking, yet refuses to believe that easy access to the morning-after pill would affect sexual behavior, particularly among adolescents. It is ideological blindness to understand how positive images of smoking may encourage kids to smoke, but not recognize that easy access to the morning after pill would encourage teens to engage in sexual activity that puts their health and lives at risk.”
See Tuesday’s LifeSiteNews.com coverage: AMA Urges FDA to Allow Morning-After Pill without a Prescription https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/jun/04061501.html