Fighting for Plan B

photo: Brandon Schulman

Annie Tummino arrested after sit-in

Details

NYC Women vs. the FDA: The Morning-After Pill Fight
NYU, Furman Hall, Room 214
245 Sullivan Street
917-842-5306
Thursday, 6:30
$5 suggested donation

Related Content

• College Sells Plan B, Condoms, and Pregnancy Tests Via Vending Machine
  February 7, 2012
• You Might Be Pregnant! Pfizer Recalls 1 Million Birth Control Packs
  February 1, 2012
• FDA Monitoring Orange Juice for Fungicide
  January 13, 2012
• Food Industry Wants to Keep Dioxins in Your Dinner: Report
  January 9, 2012
• FDA Says 'No' to Drugged Up Livestock
  January 5, 2012

More About

• Plan B Contraceptive
• Food and Drug Administration
• James Trussell
• Women's Issues
• Women's Health

On January 7, 2005, nine women were arrested for blocking access to FDA headquarters in Washington, D.C. The FDA, the women charge, has been blocking access to the morning-after pill (Plan B) for far too long, by refusing to make emergency contraception an over-the-counter drug. A year and a half later, Plan B is still available by prescription only. The medication is most effective when taken within 24 hours of having sex. But as the system stands, in order to get a prescription in time, "there are too many hoops for women to jump through," says Annie Tummino, chair of the Women's Liberation Birth Control Project. The BCP, dedicated to keeping steady pressure on the frozen FDA, hosts tonight's panel discussion with Simon Heller, attorney for the Center for Reproductive Rights; Carol Giardina, lead organizer for Redstockings Allies and Veterans NYC, and James Trussell, of the National Medical Committee of Planned Parenthood. Trussell sat on the FDA advisory panel that recommended Plan B for over-the-counter use way back in 2003. Tummino, the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit charging the FDA with sex discrimination, speaks out as well.