Anti-contraception crusaders were delivered a blow by the US District Court of the District of Columbia this week which ruled against their suit attempting to overturn over-the-counter access to emergency contraception for women over age 18. According to the Daily Women's Health Policy Report, the suit brought by the Unplanned Family Research Council and Disturbed Women for America:

"alleged that FDA had no authority to approve the same drug and labeling for simultaneous nonprescription sales and prescription-only distribution. The lawsuit also claimed that the agency could not treat the drug differently based on the age of the buyer because "FDA lacks the authority to enforce Plan B's age limitations." It also alleged that the decision to approve Barr Laboratories' application was made under "improper political pressure" from Sens. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)"

Talk about calling the kettle black. In their attempts to get the FDA to reject the science and rule according to their ideology, these groups applied the most political pressure the FDA had ever before experienced. To name just a few of the political tactics employed, they got Bush to appoint anti-contraception ideologues, Drs. Hager and Crockett, to the FDA panel considering contraception issues and had 49 members of Congress urge the White House to pressure the FDA to rule against the Plan B application. The political heavy-hand in the decision-making process originally resulted in the FDA rejection of the panel's and its own scientists' recommendations and the denial of EC OTC status. At the time, one panel member, Dr. Charles Lockwood, wrote in an editorial, "We find it offensive that religious ideology and partisan politics have been introduced into the decision-making process regarding a public health issue." Another panel member explained, "It's the first time I know of the [FDA] making a decision in which no one has produced any scientific basis for the decision." (Importantly, no one on the FDA panel ever accused supporters of the Plan B application of "improper political pressure.")

Considering the application a second time, the FDA compromised and ruled that only adult women would be able to access EC without a prescription but teenagers would be denied more immediately access to the pregnancy prevention method. Yet, granting adult women easy access to pregnancy prevention was enough to provoke the anti-family planning movement to file a lawsuit against the FDA.

This week, finally, a little justice has prevailed. The court ruled that because the plaintiffs failed "to identify a single individual who has been harmed by Plan B's [over-the-counter] availability" they have "failed to state a claim upon which relief can be granted." And with that the anti-contraception fanatics have been shown the door. Surely, they will not be missed by folks at the FDA who prefer the science of medicine to the fictions of faith.