A new day for the morning-after pill

The 40 studies were thorough and conclusive: The morning-after contraceptive pill is safe and effective, and teenage girls understand just as much as young women do about how to use it safely. Also well studied were the Bush administration's attempts to keep the pill out of the hands of American women and girls, at least for as long as it could. The conclusion, just as clear, in a 2005 report by the Government Accountability Office: The Food and Drug Administration abdicated its duty, overriding and overruling scientists so that it could delay and limit access to the pill and thus allay the concerns of religious conservatives.

March 25, 2009