The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) recently expanded over-the-counter (OTC) access to the "emergency contraceptive" Plan B to 17-year-old girls and boys. Since 2006 the FDA has allowed adults, 18 and older, to purchase the drug without a prescription.

The reaction of the press to the FDA's decision has been predictable and dead wrong. Editorials declared it "a long-overdue triumph of science over politics" (Baltimore Sun) and "not only good science but smart policy" (San Jose Mercury News).

The scientific literature, however, shows that FDA's move was based on wishful thinking, not science. Plan B's claimed effectiveness has been debunked - both for individuals and populations. And while advocates encourage unnecessary and repeated use, science shows that young women are being put at risk, while the drug's mode of action and side effects are downplayed.

One of Plan B's earliest champions, Princeton's James Trussell, Ph.D., widely promoted claims that it was 89 percent effective in preventing pregnancy and would reduce abortions in the U.S. by half. But in January 2007, Trussell and others published a review of 23 studies evaluating Plan B effectiveness. They found that "no study has shown that increased access to [Plan B] reduces unintended pregnancy or abortion rates on a population level." They concluded that individual use of Plan B may reduce pregnancy risk by "more than 23 percent," but that efficacy claims of 80 percent "may overstate actual efficacy, possibly quite substantially." In short: Plan B works poorly in the individual woman and not at all in large groups of women!

So when are women advised to take this wonder drug? Plan B's 20-page product insert says that it is meant for "infrequent emergency" use. But Barr, its manufacturer, and others describe an emergency as any "unprotected intercourse or a known or suspected contraceptive failure" (e.g., torn condom) or missing one's birth control pills for two days. According to Managing Contraception, a woman using a daily progestin-only pill should take Plan B if she is even 3 hours late in taking one pill! All these recommendations disregard the fact that women are naturally infertile 3 out of every 4 weeks of the menstrual cycle and so have no "need" for Plan B 75 percent of the time.

Pharmacists in many countries report that some young men, as well as girls, are buying Plan B many times a month. The possibility of coercion, abuse of a minor, and cover-up of statutory rape cannot be ignored.

Plan B's side effects and risks are not trivial. One dose is the equivalent of taking 40 Ovrette contraceptive pills in 12 hours! Use of Plan B can result in bleeding disorders, extreme menstrual cycle irregularities, soaring STD rates, and increased risk of potentially fatal ectopic pregnancies.

There is also evidence that, depending on the timing of Plan B relative to ovulation, the drug may act as an abortifacient by indirectly altering protein levels in the uterine lining so the week-old embryo cannot implant to receive nutrition from his or her mother.

Girls and their parents deserve the truth about Plan B - not more deception and wishful thinking.

Susan Wills is assistant director for education and outreach in the USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities. To learn more about the bishops' pro-life activities go to www.usccb.org/prolife.

Oz pulls back the curtain
By Mary E. McClusky

"Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain," mutters the ordinary man posing as the great and powerful Oz in the classic movie "The Wizard of Oz."

This scene recently became reality on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" when Oprah's star doctor and regular guest, Dr. Mehmet Oz, appeared alongside actor, Parkinson's disease victim and embryonic stem cell research proponent, Michael J. Fox.

As Dr. Oz explained how Parkinson's disease affects the brain, he broke from Fox's normal talking points by embracing scientific integrity and said: "I think, Oprah, the stem cell debate is dead, and I'll tell you why: The problem with embryonic stem cells is that embryonic stem cells come from embryos, like all of us are made from embryos, and those cells can become any cell in the body, but it's very hard to control them and so they can become cancer."

Oz then informed the stunned Fox and Winfrey that with recent advances in adult stem cell research, including the use of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells (embryonic-like stem cells reverted from their adult state) Parkinson's disease may be cured in the next decade.

Unfortunately, Dr. Oz is not entirely correct: Cures can be expected but the debate over destroying embryos in medical research is not dead. It should be, however, for many important reasons.

After decades of research transplanting embryonic stem cells in animal models, no disease has been treated successfully. In contrast, evidence of over 73 diseases and conditions successfully treated with adult stem cells continues to build. Yet many researchers continue to conduct, and more to advocate, destructive embryonic stem cell research, putting politics, research contracts and job security ahead of sound science.

Scientists who pursue embryo-destructive research despite the noteworthy successes with adult stem cells violate the rights of their week-old human victims by taking their lives. They also fail in their responsibility to the millions awaiting effective treatments for a vast array of diseases and conditions.

Of course, even if embryonic stem cell research produced successful treatments, the Church could never advocate its use because it destroys a human person in his or her first week of life. Each of us began life as a human embryo, and we are, as the Declaration of Independence acknowledges, "created equal" and possess a God-given right to life. Every child deserves to be conceived and protected within the shelter of a husband and wife's loving embrace.

The fictional Wizard of Oz lacked the courage to be honest with the Emerald Kingdom, but the real Dr. Oz courageously threw back the curtain on false promises. Let us pray that others in the medical profession and scientific community will have the heart to embrace intellectual honesty and advance cures that we can all live with.

Susan Wills is assistant director for education and outreach in the USCCB Secretariat of Pro-Life Activities. To learn more about the bishops' pro-life activities go to www.usccb.org/prolife.