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FDA Will Allow Non-prescription Sales of Emergency Contraceptives to Adult Women

August 24, 2006
The Food and Drug Administration has decided to allow emergency contraceptive to be sold over-the- counter to women 18 and over. Those 17 and younger will still need to have a prescription, despite no medical evidence that the drug is unsafe for use by younger teens.

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice finds the FDA’s decision to be far from perfect. Women younger than 18, a group that could be most helped by a reduction in unintended pregnancy, are still required to spend additional time and money finding a doctor to write a prescription. The FDA’s three-year delay that withheld increased access to a safe and effective contraceptive will go down in history as a dark period in the progress of women’s healthcare. Unfortunately, the arbitrary cut-off age of 18 for over-the-counter access shows that young women’s health is still a target for ideology and political games.

The question of whether EC will promote promiscuity has been raised. Promiscuity is a moral issue, but whether women and men have the means to help prevent an unintended pregnancy is also a moral issue. Government should leave those decisions to individuals, to be made according to their beliefs, conscience, and circumstances.i

We would like to thank RCRC activists who sent letters to their members of Congress and signed petitions to the FDA in support of EC. We are pleased that the views of the pro- faith, pro-choice community were heard and that at least some women will be able to make their own decisions about whether and when to take EC, according to their own beliefs and circumstances.

The Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) was founded in 1973 by clergy and laity committed to ensuring reproductive choice as an aspect of religious freedom and a matter of social justice. The Coalition members are national organizations from 15 denominations and faith traditions with more than 20 million members, including the Episcopal Church, Presbyterian Church (USA), United Church of Christ, United Methodist Church, Unitarian Universalist Association, and Reform and Conservative Judaism.