This week, in an appalling move by the Bush administration, the Office of Women’s Health, a division within the FDA, had its budget slashed by 30 percent.
The Office of Women's Health produces valuable health information and funds research to ensure that women receive the most appropriate drug doses and treatments. As you may remember, this was the office at the center of the debate to allow Plan B emergency contraception (EC) to be available over the counter. So why did this happen?
According to the Washington Post:
Women’s health advocates inside and outside the agency suspect they are witnessing, at least in part, a long-anticipated payback for the trouble the office stirred during the prolonged debate over nonprescription sales of Plan B. Taking a position that chafed the administration’s conservative base, the office had stood up for scientific research that had backed the safety and appropriateness of such sales.
Yesterday, Senators Clinton, Mikulski, Murray and Snowe fired a letter up to FDA head Andrew von Eschenbach demanding an explanation and vowing to restore the OWH funding:
Congress has made its intention clear. As Congress moves forward with the budget and appropriations process, we will pursue every course to make certain that this funding is restored. We intend to use every tool at our disposal to make sure that the OWH has the resources it needs to safeguard women's health.
This incident is just the latest attack on women’s health and safety by the Bush Administration. It's high time that President Bush stopped playing politics with women’s health.