WASHINGTON, Nov. 15 (UPI) -- Top federal drug officials reportedly jumped the gun in rejecting over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill.
Published reports say the officials decided to reject the plan months before completion of a government scientific review of the application, according to accounts given to congressional investigators.
The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, concluded that the Food and Drug Administration's May 2004 rejection of the morning-after pill, or emergency contraceptive, application was unusual in several respects.
Top agency officials were deeply involved in the decision, which was "very, very rare," a top FDA review official told investigators, the New York Times said.
The pill, called Plan B, is a flashpoint in the debate over abortion, in part because some abortion opponents consider the pill tantamount to ending a pregnancy. In scientific reviews, the FDA has concluded that it is a contraceptive.
