"I know that the data show that this is safe and effective," Dr. Paul Blumenthal, an obstetrician who heads contraceptive research and programs at Johns Hopkins University's Bayview medical centre, said in a telephone interview. "It meets all the criteria that would ordinarily have to be met by any other over- the-counter drugs. You could probably argue this is safer than aspirin."
French better
He said that some of the data that the FDA will use to evaluate the drug are from studies conducted in Europe on two drugs used there, Norvelo and Postinor, which are the same drug as Plan B.
The effects of the drugs can be seen in France, where the abortion rate has become one of the lowest in the world. The rate is 12 abortions per 1,000 women aged 14 to 44, or half the US rate.
Emergency contraception has been available in France since the early 1970s. In 1999, concerned that the abortion rate had stopped falling, the government made the medication available without a prescription. A year later, high-school nurses could provide the drug without parental permission, the institute said.
The morning-after pill should not be confused with RU-486, the abortion pill that is administered up to the first 12 weeks of pregnancy and after the egg is implanted in the uterus. RU-486 was approved for use in the US just recently and amid protests by anti-abortion groups.
There has been little protest from such groups against the application by the Women's Capital Corp -- possibly because the groups are convinced that the morning-after pill works similarly to the preventive birth-control pill by interfering with ovulation, fertilization or implantation of the egg in the uterus.
Describing the impact of discussions about the morning-after pill in France, Elizabeth Aubeny, president of the French Association for Contraception, was quoted as saying, "The more you talk about contraception, the more women use it and the fewer abortions there are."
RSS