Grassroots Activists from Ohio Flood FDA with 973 Messages Urging Access to Morning-After Pill
(Cleveland, OH) – Leaders of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio announced that nearly 1,000 Ohioans have sent a direct message to the Food and Drug Administration asking the agency to approve greater access for women to the “morning-after pill,” an emergency contraceptive that significantly reduces a woman’s chance of becoming pregnant after sex or sexual assault.
NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio Executive Director, Kellie Copeland said the messages varied in content but all urged the FDA to follow the recommendation of its scientific and medical advisers and allow over-the-counter access to emergency contraception before its self-imposed deadline of Thursday, January 20—which coincides with President Bush’s second inauguration. “As the President takes the oath of office for the second time, he should know that Ohio residents don’t want his administration to block women’s access to an essential contraceptive that will reduce unintended pregnancies,” Kellie Copeland said. “The FDA has a choice. It either follows the science and medical community and a majority of Ohioans who want to give women greater access to an emergency contraceptive that reduces unintended pregnancies, or the FDA caves to the extreme right-wing interests within the Bush Administration that are trying to undermine women’s medical privacy. Ohio women’s health is more important than politics.”
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