Your government is moving to deny women here, and all over the world, the right to birth control and abortion.
The FDA refused to allow over-the-counter sales of
a morning-after contraceptive called Plan B. This decision was made
with the involvement of top FDA officials, which is rare in a case like
this. It went against the recommendation of FDA’s own scientific review
staff as well as an independent advisory committee, which is
unprecedented. According to some FDA officials, they were told by
high-level management that the contraceptive would be denied before they had completed scientific studies.
If that’s not outrageousness enough, the FDA justified this by claiming
that making the contraceptive available would encourage unsafe sexual
behavior among teenagers!
So under the Bush regime, the FDA trumps science
and rational thought in order to deny women access to a safe
contraceptive. What does it mean when a government agency expected to
base its decisions on science approves policies that deny women control
over their own bodies? This outrage comes at the same time as the
Supreme Court is being stacked with anti-abortion Justices, and an
enforced “abstinence only” policy in Africa denies condoms to a
continent where millions are dying and suffering from AIDS. This has
nothing to do with “unsafe sexual behavior” among teenagers, but with
enforcing a narrow and hateful brand of Christian fundamentalism as
government policy and forcing women into “traditional” patriarchy.
We cannot accept this.
The World Can’t Wait! Drive Out the Bush Regime!