FDA: RX UNNECESSARY FOR 'MORNING AFTER PILL'
(08/25/06)
By Jacob Goldstein

After three years of debate, the Food and Drug Administration approved the over-the-counter sale of 'morning-after' contraceptive pills to adults.

Ending a three-year stalemate that critics said was driven by politics as much as science, the Food and Drug Administration on Thursday made the ''morning after pill'' available to adults without a prescription.

Girls younger than 18 still will need a prescription to obtain the drug, a form of emergency contraception marketed under the name Plan B and available by prescription since 1999.....

Lanalee Sam, a Fort Lauderdale gynecologist who specializes in adolescents, said she supported the FDA's decision. She added that she has long made a practice of writing prescriptions for Plan B during some patients' visits, allowing them to fill the prescription quickly if it becomes necessary.

'If you ever have that mistake, that `oops,' where the condom breaks...then you have this available,'' she said. Click here to read more...