CWA: Plan B Activist Admits: Easy Access Has Not Reduced Pregnancies or Abortions     12/6/2005

Washington, D.C.—Concerned Women for America (CWA) is pleased that a prominent advocate for Plan B, the morning-after pill, admitted today that “real world” experience of easy access to the drug has not reduced the numbers of pregnancies or abortions.

Pressed by CWA’s Wendy Wright at the National Press Club’s Newsmaker Forum, Kirsten Moore, president and CEO of Reproductive Health Technologies Project, conceded there is no evidence that easy access to the morning-after pill reduces the number of pregnancies or abortions. And after alleging there have been no increases, she immediately concedes there have been increases in the countries where it is easily available.

Moore said, “I think it’s an honest question, the experts had estimated that we would see a drop by up to half in the rates of unintended pregnancy and the rates of abortion. And in fact in the real world we’re not seeing that, were not necessarily seeing an increase either. Again, where we see the increases, correlation does not equal causation.” To listen to the full panel discussion, click here.

Abortion activists and politicians have demanded that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) make this high-dose drug available on store shelves even though the low-dose requires a prescription, arguing that easy access would reduce unintended pregnancies and abortions. This was presented to the FDA Advisory Committee, forcefully made by politicians and fueled by abortion-activist organizations.

“Kirsten Moore’s admission that studies and experience show that easy access to the morning-after pill has not resulted in fewer pregnancies or abortions knocks the legs out from the hard-charging coalition intent on making this drug as easy to get as toothpaste. The claim that pregnancies and abortions would reduce by half is based not on science or fact, but ‘faith’ with no substance in reality,” said Wendy Wright, Executive Vice President of CWA.

Advocates for Plan B have based their claim on a hypothesis asserted by the Alan Guttmacher Institute. Yet proponents’ own studies and the experience in countries that have made the morning-after pill available without a prescription show equal or higher rates of teen pregnancies and abortions – and disturbingly, higher rates of sexually transmitted diseases. Links to studies are available here.

“The FDA rightly decided to decline over-the-counter access for Plan B based on a lack of evidence that it could be used safely by adolescents. The FDA should not be pressured by congressmen and abortion activists whose primary argument has no basis in facts,” said Wendy Wright.

For Information Contact:
Demi Bardsley
(202) 255-2278
media.cwfa.org

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