This is Nightline’s show tonight … thought many of you would want to know, especially since Nightline doesn’t make its transcripts or videos available.
Birth Control Battle
Sept. 27, 2005
When Hurricane Katrina struck, it wiped a lot of other news stories off the front page. One story that got little attention that week was a controversial decision by the Food and Drug Administration on the last Friday in August. FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford announced that a decision to make the “Morning After” (or “Plan B”) pill available over-the-counter would be postponed indefinitely, despite the support of a majority of FDA scientists and executives.
The Plan B pill is not the same medication as RU-486 (also called the “abortion pill”) which induces abortion in an already pregnant woman. It is considered emergency contraception, taken within 72 hours after intercourse; the surge of hormones in the pill blocks fertilization or implantation and reduces the chance of a resulting pregnancy by 89 percent, according to its manufacturer. The Plan B pill has been available by prescription since 1999; the FDA has been considering whether to make the pill available to adult patients “over-the-counter” without a prescription.
The controversy, of course, lies here in the definition of pregnancy – or more basically, the question of where life begins. Does it begin at the moment of fertilization? The Plan B pill is taken long before a woman could be tested positively for pregnancy. But is she still pregnant?
The unexpected announcement by Commissioner Crawford appeared a victory for anti-abortion activists in a traditionally scientific arena. After years of debate, all of the usual political signals pointed to the FDA’s approval. And so the decision took many by surprise.
None more so than Dr. Susan Wood, who headed the FDA’s Office of Women’s Health for the last five years. Just days after the decision, she resigned in protest. Tonight Dr. Wood will give her first television interview to Ted Koppel.
And this story keeps going — another unexpected resignation was announced just last week. After only two months in office, FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford is himself stepping down.
We hope you’ll join us.
Sara Just and the “Nightline” staff
Senior Producer
ABC News Washington Bureau