It does result in millions of slow painful deaths.

Jesus, isn't the left all over this? They know, and have known how to cure cancer for years (with a virus). Instead, they dump far more money into advertising than R&D. It's a business.

I guess we've slid aside from the metaphor at this point eh?

It does result in millions of slow painful deaths.

Jesus, isn't the left all over this? They know, and have known how to cure cancer for years (with a virus). Instead, they dump far more money into advertising than R&D. It's a business.

I guess we've slid aside from the metaphor at this point eh?

FDA Official Quits Over Plan B Pill Delay

By LAURAN NEERGAARD, AP Medical Writer 26 minutes ago

WASHINGTON - A high-ranking
Food and Drug Administration official resigned Wednesday in protest over the agency's refusal to allow over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception.

Susan Wood, director of FDA's Office of Women's Health, announced her resignation in an e-mail to colleagues at the agency. The e-mail was released by contraception advocates.

The FDA last Friday postponed indefinitely its decision on whether to allow the morning-after pill, called Plan B, to be sold without a prescription. The agency said it was safe for adults to use without a doctor's guidance but was unable to decide how to keep it out of the hands of young teenagers without a prescription — a decision contrary to the advice of its own scientific advisers.

"I can no longer serve as staff when scientific and clinical evidence, fully evaluated and recommended for approval by the professional staff here, has been overruled," wrote Wood, who also was assistant commissioner for women's health. "The recent decision announced by the Commissioner about emergency contraception, which continues to limit women's access to a product that would reduce unintended pregnancies and reduce abortions, is contrary to my core commitment to improving and advancing women's health."

Plan B's maker has been trying for two years to begin nonprescription sales, and the FDA's latest postponement of its fate was a surprise: Commissioner Lester Crawford won Senate confirmation to take his job only after promising members of Congress to make a final decision by Sept. 1.

Crawford announced Friday that the agency considered over-the-counter sales to women 17 and older fine, but that younger teens would still need a prescription — and that the agency was unable to decide how pharmacies could enforce an age limit, or even if it was legal to have such dual sales.

FDA Shenanigans


Here's yet another indication that no one is running the show in our federal government: A Washington Post article today explains how, last week, the FDA appointed one Dr. Norris Alderson, a veterinarian, to the post of director of the Office of Women's Health (vacated last month by Dr. Susan Wood). Then, a few days later, the FDA announced that a Theresa Toigo would be directing the Women's Health office—and refused to acknowledge that they had, in fact, named Alderson to the post a few days earlier.

So the FDA is denying the mix-up, but they can't deny the paper trail out there that they created—by sending an e-mail to women's organizations announcing Alderson's appointment. As Karen Pearl, director of Planned Parenthood, put it:



The folks at ThinkProgress were clever enough to check the Google cache of the FDA website—and found that, sure enough, Norris Alderson was listed as acting director of the women's health office. (It's since been removed, of course.)

The Post article pointed out that when the original annoucement was made last week, comments circulating on the Internet were largely negative—which is not shocking, considering the FDA had appointed a male veterinarian to lead the women's health office. It's hardly the kind of positive PR the FDA needs these days in the face of its Plan B incompetence—in fact, it's almost as bad as when Bush signed the controversial partial-birth abortion bill surrounded by six men. Whether the FDA made the switch because of the obvious bad jokes that would be made about the Bush administration likening women to animals, or whether, as Salon suggested, they were afraid it would be another case of Michael Brown (the ousted FEMA director and Arabian horse guy), the FDA isn't a shining example of science in the public interest. Again.

--Laura Donnelly | Tuesday 3:02 PM

Wal-Mart Decides to Carry Plan B Pill
By MARCUS KABEL, Associated Press Writer
Sat Mar 4, 2:59 AM ET

Officials of Wal-Mart Stores Inc. announced Friday the company will reverse its earlier policy and stock emergency contraception pills in all of its pharmacies effective March 20, saying the giant retailer could not justify being the country's only major pharmacy chain not to carry the morning-after pill.

The announcement comes after Massachusetts last month ordered the world's largest retailer to stock the so-called Plan B pill, following a lawsuit by three Boston women against Wal-Mart.

Illinois also requires pharmacies to carry the prescription drug, and those are the only two states where Wal-Mart has so far stocked emergency contraception.

"We expect more states to require us to sell emergency contraceptives in the months ahead," said Ron Chomiuk, vice president of pharmacy for Bentonville, Ark.-based Wal-Mart.

"Because of this, and the fact that this is an FDA-approved product, we feel it is difficult to justify being the country's only major pharmacy chain not selling it," Chomiuk said in a statement.

In order to get married inside a catholic church, my husband and I had to go to some class on "the rythm method" or some such, where you were supposed to figure out exaclty when you were ovulating to determine when it was "safe" or not... more of a how TO get pregnant class rather than a how NOT to... it was very Very lame. I would have rather they (HMO/Doctor) tied my tubes at age 21 instead of refusing until age 38.

c-

Is it worse to live together or to lie to a priest?

I've heard some churches do include that rythym method in their marriage classes. Very disturbing. A friend of mine said she told the catholic marriage counselor that she wasn't sure if she an her husband wanted to have children. The lady told her she should NOT be getting married if she didn't want kids!

My parents are pretty hard core catholics and I'm concerned that if I don't get married in the catholic church my mom will have a stroke. Do you have to lie to the priest and tell him that you and your partner will not live together before marriage? Is it worse to live together or to lie to a priest?

Under his legislation, doctors conducting abortions would be guilty of a second-degree felony and face a possible 15-year prison sentence. Brinkman's bill also would make it illegal to transport a woman to a state where abortions can legally be performed. The only abortions allowed would be done "without intent to do so" as part of a procedure to prevent the death of a woman.

Many Catholic priests will marry you if you live together before the wedding. I'd try to find a YOUNG priest. Be prepared for some ball-busting though. One thing I do respect about that church is how consistent they are on things.

My wife and I were married in the Catholic Church in 2002. We were not asked or required to learn about the "rythm method." Birth control was not discussed in any way, shape or form (though we were asked if wanted to have kids - since the answer was "yes' it was pretty easy...). We were living together before we were married, and it was not a problem.

I think it depends on the priest you deal with. The Catholic Church doesn't have some checklist of beleifs and actions you need to meet in order to get married. Some Priests may not want to marry a couple under certain circumstances, but the Catholic Church as a whole doesn't disallow marriages becasue you may have lived together.

If there are Muslim and Hindu* doctors start denying care to women in the name of Allah and Ganesh, my mocking extends to them as well.

National Survey Shows Majority of Women Unaware of Plan B
Wednesday August 2, 2:56 pm ET

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C., Aug. 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Only 20 percent of women are aware of Plan B, and less than 8 percent really understand Plan B's mechanism and the situations in which it is medically appropriate or effective, according to a national Web survey of 300 women conducted by AllPoints Research in Winston-Salem, NC.

The Plan B emergency contraception pill contains high doses of the hormone estrogen, the main component of birth control pills, and is designed to prevent pregnancy when taken within 72 hours after unprotected sex. Plan B has no known side effects.

Yesterday the FDA signaled its willingness to approve Plan B for over-the- counter sale to women aged 18 and over. But the AllPoints survey shows that women still have much to learn about Plan B. Among the 20 percent of women who are aware of Plan B, most understood that it is an emergency birth control pill. But nearly one third of those women mistook it for being just like the abortion pill RU-486. Less than 8 percent of the population surveyed understood it is not effective if a woman is already pregnant.

In spite of their overall lack of familiarity with Plan B and emergency contraception in general, most women (65 percent) did not view it as immoral or unethical. Only 6 percent of all women surveyed believed emergency contraception was never acceptable, even in cases of rape or incest.

Women were evenly split about whether emergency contraception would lead to an increase in unprotected sex (44 percent agreed; 45 percent disagreed) and whether it would increase the transmission of sexually transmitted diseases (39 percent agreed; 45 percent disagreed). But the majority of women believe emergency contraception will decrease the number of unplanned pregnancies (76 percent), as well as the number of abortions (69 percent).

Experts in consumer behavior as it relates to pharmaceuticals, healthcare and sexual health are available to discuss the Plan B study.

Download the executive summary at: http://www.ledepr.com/allpoints.htm.

About AllPoints Research (http://www.allpoints.biz)

AllPoints Research is a full-service marketing research firm that employs state-of-the-art quantitative and qualitative techniques to deliver accurate, prompt and insightful results across a broad spectrum of industries and markets, such as pharmaceuticals, healthcare, agribusiness, and animal health.

That's because you're ONLY supposed to have sex to make babies.