The Conspiracy of EC

FDA Deputy Commissioner for Operations Janet Woodcock in January 2004 said it was necessary for the agency to reject Barr Laboratories application for nonprescription sales of its emergency contraceptive Plan B in order "to appease the Bush administration's constituents," agency scientist Florence Houn testified in a deposition, which was released Thursday by the Center for Reproductive Rights, Reuters reports. The deposition comes in a lawsuit brought by CRR -- on behalf of the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals, the National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health and others. CRR filed a lawsuit against FDA in a U.S. District Court in New York, claiming the agency did not follow procedure when it denied the original nonprescription Plan B application.

Houn in a July sworn deposition said Woodcock told her that nonprescription Plan B access had to be rejected for girls and women of all ages but that it eventually could be approved with an age restriction (CRR release, 8/3). CMS Administrator Mark McClellan in a sworn statement taken in June said he gave the White House updates of the application's process but said White House officials did not give "any direction on how I should act" on it.