After promising earlier this year to expeditiously push through the approval process for Plan B ( emergency contraception, also called the morning-after pill ) to obtain over-the-counter ( OTC ) status, the FDA announced on Aug. 26 that it will give itself another 60 days to think it over. Never mind that the six independent studies it commissioned declared the drug a safe and effective measure against unwanted pregnancies and abortions. And never mind that in 2003, the FDA's own advisory committee on women's health voted 23/4 to grant Plan B the OTC status.
A shame for those unfortunate women who will get knocked up, but this is not really a gay issue. Sex without the possibility of procreation makes reproductive freedom a moot point.
Unless, of course, you talk to same-sex couples who want to have children. In California, lesbian Guadalupe Benitez is suing her fertility clinic for withholding services after medical personnel, citing moral and religious grounds, objected to the woman's sexual orientation. In a position that is difficult to reconcile with its public endorsement of stem-cell research, the California Medical Association is defending the clinic's policy of favoring the religious beliefs of its service providers. It is siding against Benitez, Lambda Legal, and a long list of medical and civil-rights organizations involved in the ongoing case. Reproductive rights lie at the very core of what defines a family for Benitez and countless others. It would seem that they no longer can count on the enlightened support of traditional allies.
But many lesbian couples simply don't want kids. The right to conceive or not to conceive does not apply directly to them. The same goes for single women ( straight or gay ) who are neither looking for a partner nor longing for a child. The FDA's non-decision has no effect on their lives. That is if, whatever the circumstances, they can commit to never finding themselves in the wrong place at the wrong time. Otherwise, the right to refuse to bear a rapist's child is one they might want to advocate for. Just in case.
What about teenage girls ( again, straight or gay ) who are exposed to a disturbed uncle or to a manipulative 'friend' of the family with a tendency toward inappropriate, indeed criminal, sexual behavior? Will lectures on alleged fetal pain and videos of butchered abortions replace the scientific tools of pregnancy avoidance for under-age victims?
And how are uninsured and low-income women going to protect themselves and their daughters? Will prayer and adoption become the default, no-charge solution for the poor? By delaying the arrival of Plan B on the shelves and making it available only to women with rapid access to a doctor and his/her prescription pad, the Republican-run FDA is revealing its class-biased view of 'choice'. While it is catering to the pharmaceuticals by not banning their product, it is also appeasing Christian fundamentalists by restricting its use. All of a sudden, 'choice' means not having to choose.
On Aug. 31, Susan F. Wood, Director of the FDA's Office of Women's Health, exercised an option of her own and submitted her resignation. Condemning the trumping of solid science by partisan politics, Wood charged that the agency's decision-making process on Plan B had been interfered with at a higher level. She should be applauded for talking an immediate stand. But alas, her departure leaves a seat open for another disciple appointment in the future.
The time has come to save ourselves. We can pick our battles only when they are different. This fall, gay moms, teenage rape victims, and underprivileged women across the country are all up against the same enemy. We had better have A Plan.