The morning after pill can be taken for up to 72 hours after sexual intercourse to prevent pregnancy. It is sometimes confused with RU-486, or the “abortion pill,” which terminates pregnancy in the first seven weeks after conception.

Plan B has been available by prescription since 1999, but government officials refused for years to okay over-the-counter sales.

In March 2002 the Women’s Capital Corp. applied to the FDA to sell the pill without prescription. Barr Pharmaceuticals acquired Plan B in October 2003 and continued the effort. In December of that year an FDA advisory panel voted 24-3 to recommend approval of over-the-counter sales. The New England Journal of Medicine wrote an editorial condemning the FDA for allowing “political considerations” to delay decision. In August 2005 agency commissioner Lester Crawford, in another move to stall the decision, called for public discussion to help the agency decide whether the same drug can exist as both a prescription and over-the-counter product.

In reaction to Crawford’s move, FDA assistant commissioner for women’s health Susan Wood resigned, charging the decision “was not based on the science and clinical evidence.” Crawford resigned a few weeks later himself, and was replaced by Eschenbach.

Earlier in August, shortly before confirmation hearings on his appointment recommenced, Eschenbach announced that the FDA is “committed to working diligently through” the impasse, but insisted the “appropriate age” for over-the-counter sales is 18.

At an August 21 press conference, President George Bush backed Eschenbach’s statement, saying he believes Plan B “ought to require a prescription for minors.”

The Family Research Council and other conservative groups have opposed Eschenbach’s nomination because he allowed selling Plan B over the counter.  
 
 
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