solarbird | Cultural Warfare Addendum (Accidental Post)

Actually, I was just queueing these up for tomorrow's regular update. But, well, one accidental post later, and here they are. Enjoy!

GAO: The scientific process on Plan B was overridden for political reasons from the top, and the outcome was fixed;

Alito attempts to play down anti-abortion rhetoric from 1985, saying he is "wiser" now.

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Report Details F.D.A. Rejection of Next-Day Pill
November 15, 2005
By GARDINER HARRIS
The New York Times

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/15/politics/15pill.html?pagewanted=print

WASHINGTON, Nov. 14 - Top federal drug officials decided to reject an application to allow over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill months before a government scientific review of the application was completed, according to accounts given to Congressional investigators.

The Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan investigative arm of Congress, concluded in a report released Monday that the Food and Drug Administration's May 2004 rejection of the morning-after pill, or emergency contraceptive, application was unusual in several respects.

Top agency officials were deeply involved in the decision, which was "very, very rare," a top F.D.A. review official told investigators. The officials' decision to ignore the recommendation of an independent advisory committee as well as the agency's own scientific review staff was unprecedented, the report found. And a top official's "novel" rationale for rejecting the application contradicted past agency practices, it concluded.

The pill, called Plan B, is a flashpoint in the debate over abortion, in part because some abortion opponents consider the pill tantamount to ending a pregnancy. In scientific reviews, the F.D.A. has concluded that it is a contraceptive.

The report suggested that it quickly became apparent that the agency was not going to follow its usual path when it came to the pill. "For example," it said, "F.D.A. review staff told us that they were told early in the review process that the decision would be made by high-level management."

Top agency officials denied many of the report's findings, including its conclusion that the top officials' involvement was unusual and that they had decided to reject the application before the agency's own scientific review was concluded. Julie Zawisza, an F.D.A. spokeswoman, said the agency stood by its rejection of the morning-after pill application.

"We question the integrity of the investigative process that results in such partial conclusions by the G.A.O.," Ms. Zawisza said.

[More at URL]

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Alito plays down 1985 anti-abortion document
Supreme Court nominee meets with Democrats, says he is ‘wiser’ now
Updated: 7:04 p.m. ET Nov. 15, 2005

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10055761/

WASHINGTON - The Samuel Alito who argued against abortion rights in 1985 was “an advocate seeking a job” with the conservative Reagan administration, the Alito who is now a Supreme Court nominee told Democrats Tuesday.

The current version “thinks he’s a wiser person” with “a better grasp and understanding about constitutional rights and liberties,” senators said as Alito tried to play down a 20-year-old document in which he asserted “the Constitution does not protect a right to an abortion.”

At the same time, some anti-abortion groups warned Alito not to go too far if he hopes to retain their support.