NARAL Pro-Choice America Releases Statement on New Reports That Bush Administration Interfered With Emergency Contraception Application

Washington, DC—Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, issued the following statement in response to the recent Newsday reports that then-FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan met with White House officials regarding the over-the-counter application for the emergency contraceptive, Plan B®.

"Today's revelations are further proof that the Bush administration is playing politics with women's health. Even though the FDA's own advisory panel overwhelmingly voted to approve over-the-counter status for Plan B®, FDA Commissioner Mark McClellan met with White House staff about this drug.

This is highly unusual behavior; in fact it almost never happens. If these latest reports are true, they show that Bush political appointees are pandering to their far-right base by blocking women's access to this safe, effective birth control method.

Americans must ask their senators to stand with Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-WA), along with other leaders in the Senate, who have vowed to block the nomination of Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach to be FDA's commissioner, until the FDA quits allowing politics to trump science and makes a decision on the Plan B® application."

Read the entire Newsday article here.

Contact:
Ted Miller, 202.973.3032