"The near-simultaneous emergence of this hot political topic [the morning-after pill] in several…countries is 'certainly not by chance,' says Carlos Polo, a representative of the Population Research Institute in south America. According to Polo: "'There is a similar pattern used to introduce the "morning-after pill" in the countries of the region. First, a government decree is passed to include the drug in public health programs — thus avoiding the debate in Congress. Then its abortifacient effect is blatantly denied. And finally the whole concept of abortion is redefined to move the country one step closer to its legalization.'" [Alejandro Bermudez, "Girded for Battle", CWN, 8/04]
“The efforts to pressure the U.S. Food and Drug Admin (FDA) into approving the morning-after pill (MAP) for over-the-counter (OTC) distribution are inextricably linked to the int’l abortion industry.
"The founder of Women's Capital Corp [applicant for FDA approval of OTC/MAP] organized the first efforts to promote MAP globally. U.S. taxpayers should not be surprised that the US Agency for Int’l Dev’t (USAID) has been actively involved in promoting and distributing morning-after pills (MAP) to poor women and girls in developing nations, long before the probable abortion-inducing chemical ever became well-known in America…
"Norplant, a chemical with the same active ingredient as MAP, has been discontinued in the U.S., but USAID continues to flood developing nations with Norplant. Long before the FDA approved MAP by prescription only, USAID was routinely funding events designed to expand global access to MAP, and groups which actively import the dangerous drug.(1)
"In Uganda, USAID initiated "new Commercial Market Strategies project (CMS)" to introduce MAPs into the general population. With the help of Population Services Int’l (PSI), and Pathfinder Int’l, social marketing campaigns were launched. PSI led focus groups among African women to increase MAP use.(2)
"Ignoring serious risks, USAID distributed a Fact Sheet to all of its overseas missions declaring that morning-after pills are safe and effective, do not cause abortion, and "constitute an integral part of the voluntary service delivery mix that USAID supports."(3)
"USAID promotion of MAPs persisted despite it being illegal to do so according to the laws of foreign nations. In Peru, for example, a USAID official lobbied for the legalization of MAP, despite Peru's pro-life laws which prohibit MAP.(4) USAID's support of MAP use in Peru continued. USAID-funded groups actively took part in efforts to "overthrow" Peru's pro-life Health Minister, Dr. Carbone, because of his efforts to oppose MAPs.
"USAID-funded Family Health Int’l, despite El Salvadorian law which defines life as beginning at fertilization, launched massive efforts to promote MAP to girls as young as 10 years of age.(5)
"USAID's pro-MAP ideology comes directly from the U.N and the World Health Organization (WHO), and not from the FDA. In fact, USAID claims to be able to distribute abortion-inducing chemicals and contraceptives overseas, even when they are not FDA approved, by following WHO policies.
"On the heels of the 1994 UN Int’l Conference on Population and Dev’t in Cairo, the pro-abortion int’l community convened in 1995 in Italy to discuss and promote MAPs under the auspices of women's health and rights.
"Abortion supporters sought ways to incorporate MAPs into international population control programs. Dr. Sharon Camp, the founder of FDA applicant for OTC/MAP, Women's Capital Corporation, was "volunteer coordinator" for ongoing working groups charged with global MAP promotion. Each region of the world was designated with its own working group, to promote MAPs. Regions collaborated by sharing challenges and success stories via the int’l consortium.(6)
"A consensus statement was drafted, calling for increasing worldwide awareness of and demand for MAPs, and increasing worldwide access to MAPs among women and teens. Directives to target adolescent populations were specifically given.(7)
"Less than one year later, an International Consortium at which USAID participated succeeded in securing the manufacture of MAP for social marketing worldwide. In 1996, USAID began to promote MAPs full-force, through its favored non-governmental organization Family Health International (FHI), which published a plan of action for changing attitudes of women and teens towards MAPs. Studies targeted adolescents, in order to promote MAPs as a solution to rape.(8)
"A year later, in 1997, armed largely with data secured through international field studies undertaken outside the view of U.S. public scrutiny, the American Society for Emergency Contraception (ASEC) began efforts to promote MAPs for domestic use under the same guise as a solution to rape.(9)
"The same year, in collaboration with five Planned Parenthood affiliates, Dr. Sharon Camp -who was key at the Bellagio, Italy, conference in efforts to promote MAPs to teens globally- founded Women's Capital Corporation (WCC), a privately-held for-profit corporation whose shareholders are mainly private foundations. WCC's corporate mission is to purchase existing or orphaned contraceptive technology avoided by mainstream pharmaceuticals due to fears of bad publicity.(10)
"Through WCC, the ideologies of special-interest groups were masked and MAP-related issues were framed as science, medicine and women's health issues. The same year, FDA declared MAPs to be safe and effective, without an application from the drug's manufacturer. This move was regarded as highly unusual, even by some in the international abortion-camp, because the FDA rarely sanctions a drug's use for new medical indications without an application from the drug's manufacturer.(11)
"In 1999, FDA approved Plan B for prescription.(12) In 2002, during a new Bush Administration, the FDA issued a Warning Letter to FDA applicant for Women's Capital Corporation concerning its unproven advertising and marketing claims designed to generate public support for and use of MAP.(13)
"One year later, Women's Capital Corporation filed for OTC status with FDA for Plan B.(14)
< p> "Very recently, WCC Founder Dr. Sharon Camp became Chief Executive Officer of Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), after negotiating sale of Women's Capital Corporation to Barr Laboratories for $24 million.(15) AGI promotes abortion globally.
"FDA's current consideration of the OTC/MAP application represents the final step in a worldwide campaign launched by international abortion advocacy/population control organizations a decade ago. Dr. Camp, and the pro-abortion industry of which she is part, has millions more to gain.
"USAID's heavy-handed tactics around the world are being mimicked by the FDA here at home. The unwanted abortion-inducing chemicals previously foisted upon developing nations have undergone an image-makeover for U.S. consumption.
"It is time to end the FDA's charade that it is acting in the interests of women and girls. The FDA must refuse to promote the ideological special interests of abortion advocacy and int’l population control organizations.
"American women have everything to lose."
1. "Expanding Global Access to Emergency Contraception: A Collaborative Approach to Meeting Women's Needs;" www.cecinfo.org/files/ see link titled Expanding-Global-Access-toEC.rtf
2.Emergency Contraceptive Newsletter, Spring 1999, Vol. 4, No. 1.
3. Emergency Contraception Update Highlights: October, 1996 to October 1997; "USAID Promotes 'Vital Choice for Women'."
4. May 17, 2002 letter to Peruvian Minister of Health F. Carbone, from 21 pro-abortion activists, including signature of Maria Angelica Borneck of USAID/Peru.
5.USAID El Salvador, "Family Planning Guidelines," July 1999.
6. http://www.cecinfo.org/html/ab-unique-approach.htm. The original 7 int’l abortion advocacy/population control groups were: The Concept Foundation; International Planned Parenthood Federation; Pacific Institute for Women's Health; Pathfinder International; PATH (Program for Appropriate Technology in Health); Population Council; World Health Organization's Special Programme of Research, Dev’t and Research Training in Human Reproduction. Membership was later expanded but remains comprised predominantly of abortion advocacy and population control groups.
7. "Consensus Statement on Emergency Contraception," Contraception, 1996; 52:211-212. The Consensus Statement (in an incomplete version): www.path.org/outlook/html/13_3.htm.
8. "OCs Provide Emergency Contraception Option," Family Health Int’l, Network, Summer ‘96, V.16 #4. www.reproline.jhu.edu/english/6read/6issues/6network/v164/nt1645.html
9. American Society for Emergency Contraception. http://www.emergencycontraception.org/ase/
10."Daily Reproductive Health Report: Contraception and Family Planning, Barr Laboratories Acquires Emergency Contraceptive Plan B," Kaiser Daily Network Reports. 6Oct03. www.kaisernetwork.org/daily_reports/rep_index.cfm?DR_id=20191.
11. Int’l Consortium for Emergency Contraception, "Emergency Contraception Highlights Update: 10/96 to 10/97." Available at:
www.cecinfo.org/files/ecupdateHilights-96-97.rtf. ICEC stated," "On February 25, 1997, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration pronounced six U.S. brands of combined oral contraceptives safe and effective for use as emergency contraceptives and urged the pharmaceutical industry to apply for approval of new dedicated products."
12. Transcript, Nonprescription Drugs Advisory Committee in Joint Session with Advisory Committee for Reproductive Health Drugs Meeting, FDA, 16Dec03, P. 21. www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/ac/03/transcripts/4015T1.pdf.
13.Copy of Warning Letter: http://www.pharmcast.com/WarningLetters/Yr2002/November2002/WomensCapital120302.htm.
14.Women's Capital Corporation. http://www.go2planb.com/section/newsroom/in_the_news/.
15. Press Release, Alan Guttmacher Inst. www.guttmacher.org/pipermail/agi/2003-July/000080.html
[Mosher, PRI Weekly Briefing 2Apr04 Vol. 6 / No. 13]