EC
President Obama, Please Keep Your Promise to Insulate Science from Politics and Ideology
by Wayne Shields, Association of Reproductive Health Professionals
January 9, 2012 - 11:11am (Print)
One of the most difficult things to do is tell a friend that we are disappointed or upset with them, but that is what we are doing here today.
Why Scientific Integrity Policies are So Important for Government Agencies
by Francesca Grifo, Scientific Integrity Program at Union of Concerned Scientists
January 6, 2012 - 6:15pm (Print)
Sadly, only about a quarter of the relevant agencies have developed scientific integrity policies as required under White House guidelines and publicly released them.
The Plan B Decision: A Dangerous Precedent
by Kelly Cleland, Office of Population Research (Princeton University)
January 6, 2012 - 4:58pm (Print)
To the FDA, the evidence is clear: Plan B is safe for women of all ages. Yet in a dangerous precedent, the Secretary overturned the decision based on pseudo-scientific concerns about misuse among younger adolescents.
The EC Decision: Where Were The President's Science Advisors?
by Susan Wood, ThePumpHandle.wordpress.com
January 6, 2012 - 4:34pm (Print)
Dr. Susan Wood discusses the recent misuse of science and data as part of the decision by the Secretary of HHS to overrule the scientific determination by the FDA Commissioner on bringing Plan B fully over the counter.
The Plan B Decision: Sacrificing "Change We Can Believe In" for Expediency?
December 19, 2011 - 8:52am (Print)
We cannot let the Democrats, let our president, lose sight of what this decades-old debate about access to all forms of reproductive healthcare is really about; that is, for women to have any sort of autonomy and self-determination within our society.
The Inside Hardball on Obama's Emergency Contraception Decision?
by Rebecca Sive, The Sive Group, Inc./www.rebeccasive.com
December 14, 2011 - 9:12am (Print)
I got to thinking about what else the President’s decision portends. The essence of successful politicians like, say, Margaret Hamburg and Kathleen Sebelius, is three-fold. What starts all over every morning is the (political) big leagues ballgame. What starts over every day in these big leagues, just like the baseball ones, is a game that is played only one way: the hardball way.
Follow Rebecca Sive on Twitter, @RebeccaSive
Denying OTC Access to Plan B Disproportionately Affects Latina Teens
by Jessica Gonzalez-Rojas, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
December 13, 2011 - 11:31am (Print)
Whether President Obama was compelled to weave the bubble gum narrative for political gain or because it truly reflects his thinking, the result is the same. Complex sexual health issues get overly simplified, society focuses on stigma more than solution, and young people are left with policy decisions that don't begin to match the weight of their lived experiences nor keep them "safe."
NARAL Pro-Choice NY President Andrea Miller & Others Discuss EC Decision on NY1
On December 7, 2011, NARAL Pro-Choice NY was outraged to hear that Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius blocked the FDA's approval of Plan B One-Step for over-the-counter sale for all ages; one thing that pro & anti choice groups agree on in this case is that this decision made by the Obama Administration was entirely political.
See all our coverage of the Administration's 2011 Emergency Contraception Reversal here.
A Young Doctor's Response to President Obama's Plan B Failure: Where Is the Scientific Integrity?
December 11, 2011 - 9:58am (Print)
Experts, who we count on for guidance and sound evidence-based medicine, have repeatedly shown Plan B to be not only extremely effective, but incredibly safe. Although the experts in the FDA agreed with the well-researched and well-presented data on Plan B, Secretary Sebelius and President Obama chose to ignore their expertise and base their decision on politics, not science.
Disappointed Doesn’t Cut It Anymore: A Mother’s Rebuttal of President Obama’s Plan B Politics
by Kate Stewart, Advocates for Youth
December 8, 2011 - 8:34pm (Print)
Disappointed, angry, dismayed -- these are only some of the emotions I am feeling this afternoon after hearing President Obama's poor excuse for restricting access to Plan B One Step. I am also scared. How does Obama's hollow rationale and rejection of science make him any different than Michele Bachmann?
