First thing’s first – apologies for being a little MIA – I’ve been putting a lot of work into the March events listings on FeministEvents. Take note of the panel with Amanda Marcotte on political blogging going down this weekend!
So now that I”m back to the regular blogosphere world of news and such, hello, the fucking budget for the Office of Women’s Health is getting cut… because they finally caved to EC access? Seriously?!! It was already a paltry $4 million, and now “word came down that the FDA” intends to withhold $1.2 million, essentially cutting off all operations since the Office of Women’s Health has already allocated the remaining $2.8 mil on salaries or other projects. Unbelievable.
This whole scene is drenched in misogyny.
The Office of Women’s Health wasn’t even created until (what’s your guess, 1970’s?) 1994, after it was finally acknowledged that there was “growing evidence that some sex-based differences in biology warranted special regulatory attention — and a recognition that other offices within the FDA did not have the time, money or expertise to focus on women’s special needs.”
The Office went through a totally unneccessary shit storm for backing EC and the then director, Susan Wood, resigned over the issue. Now, “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.”
Women’s health advocates like Martha R. Nolan, a vice president at the Society for Women’s Health Research, a Washington advocacy group, said, “We fear this is the first step toward eliminating the Office of Women’s Health.”
Well I’m so glad the FDA is a sexist boys club that capitulates to a sexist boys club government, that sure makes me feel healthy!
1 Comment
March 2, 2007 at 9:06 am
[...] of the $4 million budgeted for the Office of Women’s Health (itself not even created until 19-freaking-94) , which was at the center of a maelstrom of controversy surrounding the over-the-counter approval [...]