Plan B emergency contraception was approved in 1999 as a prescription product for all women of childbearing potential. The manufacturer sought non-prescription status in 2003.

Plan B prevents unintended pregnancy; it does not cause abortion; in fact its only connection to abortion is that it can prevent the need for one. It is very safe and needs to be taken soon (within hours) to be most effective.

After nearly three years of delays, the Food and Drug Administration announced its approval to make Plan B emergency contraception available to women 18 and older without a prescription. Women will have to show identification proving they are at least 18 years old. This will allow many women to get timely access to this backup birth control that is more effective the sooner it is used.

The FDA decision is both a political victory and an advance for women's health. The approval at this time is a tribute to the efforts of reproductive rights and women's health advocates as well as the scientific community and policy makers who have fought to improve women's access to comprehensive health care.

However, the triumph is only a partial victory because young women younger than 18 years of age still do not have easy access to emergency contraception. For these women, the drug will still require a prescription.

Requiring women younger than 18 to obtain a prescription merely delays access and makes the treatment less effective, and there is no medical or scientific evidence to support this decision. On the contrary, Plan B is safe and effective for over-the-counter use for women of all ages. There is also no evidence that access to emergency contraception encourages sexual activity in adolescents.

It appears as if the age restriction is a political concession on the part of the FDA to conservative activists who have been fighting to keep barriers to contraceptive access in place.

Unfortunately, this compromise will impose real economic, physical and emotional costs on young women who will be denied timely access to emergency contraception, making the method less effective. This decision should not be made on politics but rather on medical and scientific evidence that clearly states that Plan B is a safe and effective backup birth control method.

We must insist that the FDA and all health agencies base decisions on medical evidence and that they further strengthen their commitment to science-based policies and ensure timely access to Plan B for all women who may need it.

Stacie Geller heads the national center of excellence in women's health at the University of Illinois at Chicago, where she teaches in the medical school.

The Food and Drug Administration's decision to approve the sale of Plan B over the counter without a prescription for those over age 18 is just another example of how social virtues are increasingly absent from public policy decision-making and affirms that morality is losing its hold on the American psyche.

Sexuality is not something that is simply biological or recreational, but is the means by which a man and a woman give themselves to one another in love through the acts that are proper and exclusive to spouses.

There is no more intimate relationship between two people. Unfortunately, this message is increasingly difficult to reinforce in light of the FDA decision, especially to teenagers.

Claims that Plan B will not be sold to teens under age 18 are unsubstantiated. Now that the drug has been approved for over-the-counter sales, watch for more extensive Plan B publicity campaigns that will promote risk-taking sexual behaviors, especially to young people.

Advertisements already developed target the use of Plan B to younger audiences. One ad shows a group of young women standing outside a dormitory, with the message: "So many men. So many reasons to have back-up contraception."

But as we know, there are consequences as was proven in the state of Washington where during the first year Plan B was first made available through a pilot program in pharmacies, the rate of Chlamydia increased from 169 cases per 100,000 in 1997 to 193 cases in 1998. This increase was a dramatic reversal of a steadily downward trend in Chlamydia through 1996.

John Paul II warned us that overconfidence in our power, made even more pronounced by advances in science and technology, created the illusion of a life without natural boundaries and actions without consequences. We are now witnessing the gradual restructuring of American culture according to ideals of utility, productivity and cost effectiveness. It is a culture where moral questions are submerged by a river of goods and services and where the misuse of marketing and public relations subverts public life.

A return to basic moral principles will allow us to reverse this decline in American culture and to move toward one that values as a priority human life and human relationships.

One lesson that can be confirmed in the wake of the FDA's recent decision is that abstinence before marriage, fidelity within marriage, and respect for the gift of our human fertility is the only way to reduce to zero unintended pregnancies, abortions and sexually transmitted diseases.

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