Marie Cocco: How Bush and Co. Broke the Law to Keep Women from Using Birth Control

[marmar]

via AlterNet:



How Bush and Co. Broke the Law to Keep Women from Using Birth Control

By Marie Cocco, Truthdig. Posted March 27, 2009.

Political operatives and ideological helpmates of George W. Bush broke the law to keep birth control away from women -- particularly teenagers.




For those whose nostalgia for the Bush administration is unfulfilled by former Vice President Dick Cheney's snarling television appearance, there is a new window into the soul of the old regime. It is the brutally frank account of how political operatives and ideological helpmates of George W. Bush violated the law in their efforts to keep birth control away from American women -- particularly teenagers at the greatest risk of an unplanned and life-altering pregnancy.

The broad outlines of the case against Bush's Food and Drug Administration for trying to block the approval of over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill, or Plan B, are widely known. For more than five years, the loyal Bushies at the agency blocked action by subverting science, overruling medical professionals and abandoning FDA standards that have long governed how drugs are switched from prescription-only to over-the-counter availability.

It was done, of course, at the behest of anti-abortion zealots who consider many commonly used birth control methods as equivalent to terminating a pregnancy. When the FDA finally approved over-the-counter sales in 2006, it restricted them to women 18 and older and tried to impede the pill's use by insisting that pharmacies keep the drug out of plain view.

U.S. District Judge Edward R. Korman, ruling in a lawsuit brought by the drug's sponsors and others, now has ordered the FDA to reconsider the age and availability restrictions on the morning-after pill. ...........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.alternet.org/reproductivejustice/133653/how_bush_and_co._broke_the_law_to_keep_women_from_using_birth_control/

[pleah]

1. K&R

[Solly Mack]

2. K&R

[sweetpotato]

3. Why?

>>>It was done, of course, at the behest of anti-abortion zealots who consider many commonly used birth control methods as equivalent to terminating a pregnancy.<<<

And in a country where abortion is still legal, why would THIS even be an issue? Are they actually trying to FORCE abortions?

Wow - turned that on its ear.