Plan B and Crocodile Tears

Plan B

Awww, the plight of these two political naifs is almost enough to bring a tear to your eye:

U.S. officials deferred ruling on over-the-counter sales of Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc.'s "morning-after" contraceptive on Friday, sparking charges that repeated delays were motivated by politics rather than science.

...

Sens. Patty Murray of Washington and Hillary Clinton of New York, both Democrats, charged Bush administration officials with breaking a promise to rule on Plan B by September 1. Murray and Clinton agreed to drop objections to a vote on Crawford's nomination as FDA commissioner in light of that pledge.

"It is a breach of faith to have this administration give us their word that a decision would be made, and have that promise violated. FDA's only criteria for approval should be safety and efficacy, not politics and ideology," the senators said in a joint statement.

It's difficult to decide which is more condescending and harmful: the FDA abandoning science as a criterion for making regulatory decisions, or politicians horse-trading women's health and lives.

At least people like Wendy Wright from Concerned Women for America are up-front about their agenda [Unfortunately, they're also ignorant of the topic under discussion--e.g., pedophiles are attracted to prepubescent children.]:

Concerned Women for America (CWA), a conservative group that opposes over-the-counter sales, welcomed the FDA action.

"It is naive to assume any over-the-counter scheme for the morning-after pill would be effective," said Wendy Wright, CWA's senior policy director. "A 17-year-old could buy it for a 13-year-old girl. Or worse yet, a pedophile could purchase this drug for his victims."

With politicians and misguided people like Ms. Wright shaping health care, and the debate about what constitutes proper care, the future of American medicine [for women] looks bleak, indeed.