Emergency Contraception Drug OTC Status Finally Approved
September 1, 2006
On August 24, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued its approval of Plan B, an over-the-counter (OTC) emergency contraception drug for women aged 18 and older. This approval came three years after the FDA’s advisory committee recommended by a vote of 23-4 that Plan B be approved for non-prescription sales. Young women 17 years and younger still will need a doctor’s note to buy the pills.
Plan B, which is also known as “the morning after pill,” consists of two pills containing a synthetic version of the hormone progestin used in standard birth-control pills. It is highly effective in preventing a pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse (long before pregnancy tests usually work).
According to Barr Pharmaceuticals, there are nearly three million unintended pregnancies each year in the United States. Plan B has been well-studied and shown to reduce the pregnancy rate, after a single incident of unprotected intercourse, from 8% to 1%, an 89% reduction.
Last year, federal legislation was introduced that called for the FDA Commissioner to determine whether to allow the marketing of Plan B as a prescription drug for women 15 years of age or younger and a nonprescription drug for women 16 years of age or older. In light of the FDA’s decision and its limitations, this legislation will likely see renewed interest.
NASW Position
NASW supports the right to have access to a full range of safe and legal reproductive health services including emergency contraceptives. NASW will continue to work with our coalition colleagues and legislators to ensure that state and federal legislative initiatives are not advanced that erode the rights for safe and legal family planning and reproductive health options.
Plan B Consumer Page [online] at: http://www.go2planb.com/ForConsumers/Index.aspx. Barr Pharmaceuticals Press Release, August 24, 2006. Retrieved [online] at: http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=60908&p=irol-newsArticle&ID=899120&highlight.
National Association of Social Workers, Policy Statements 2006-2009, Social Work Speaks,7th Edition, 2006.
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