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Emergency Contraception

WLP Comments to FDA on Emergency Contraception

At the end of October, the Women's Law Project submitted comments to the FDA encouraging it to approve emergency contraception for over-the-counter use. The comments explain: (1) why easy accessibility to emergency contraception is critical to ensuring the drug’s effectiveness and, in turn, drastically lowering the number of unwanted pregnancies and abortions; (2) how emergency contraception satisfies the FDA’s requirements for over-the-counter status because the drug is safe for self-medication, the condition the drug treats is easily diagnosable, and the drug regimen is effective when self-administered; (3) how studies have repeatedly shown that increasing access to emergency contraception does not lead to greater risk-taking behaviors; and (4) that engaging in further debate over FDA regulation and pragmatic considerations would only serve to substantially delay putting emergency contraception on the shelves of drugstores. The comments conclude that emergency contraception is, therefore, appropriate for immediate approval as an over-the-counter drug for all women, or in the alternative, for women ages 16 and older without the need for further regulation.