Maria Manon’s Feb. 10 article “Options for the Morning After” regarding emergency contraception (EC) needs a follow-up.

3 days after the article, Barr Laboratories, maker of Plan B EC, announced the F.D.A. had informed them that it were delaying the over-the-counter application decision of Plan B for three months. 50 Republicans in Congress had signed a letter to President Bush backing the prescription requirement.

A week later, F.D.A. Commissioner Dr. Mark B. McClellan was nominated by President Bush to the post of Administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. On March 12, without a roll-call vote and after some squabbling over drug reimportation, he was confirmed by the Senate. Now that Dr. McClellan will part, it’ll be up to three others to see EC OTC: the F.D.A.’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research’s Acting Director Steven Galson, F.D.A. Deputy Commissioner Lester Crawford, or Health ‘ Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson. Galson vowed the drug’s application decision will be based on its scientific merits. Last Fall, replying to an OTC-approved drug list, while on CNN Live Today for an interview with anchor Daryn Kagan, Crawford said, “We have made a judgment based on an advisory committee’s recommendations that they go over-the-counter.” As Manon pointed out, two F.D.A. advisory committees including OB/GYN department heads at top universities approved Plan B for OTC use, so the delay indicates the application is not being considered on its scientific merits. Thompson was an anti-choice governor and says the head F.D.A. post may remain vacant all year.

The gynecological care offered at Boston University Health Services includes, among other things, health maintenance and screening, STD counseling and selective testing, birth control education, selection, and maintenance, and emergency contraception options counseling.

Women can get EC OTC in only 5 states — AL, CA, HI, NM, and WA. In late February, after the F.D.A. delay, Maine’s Senate passed a bill making EC OTC in that state. As far as I can tell, Maine Gov. John Baldacci has yet to sign that measure into law.

Regards, Thomas Foley, Senior, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA