The Food and Drug Administration is a government agency dealing with food inspections, medicinal testing and other health related fields. Not exactly an agency in which one should see partisan politics.

Yet the FDA is at the center of one of the more ridiculous political scandals in Washington today: The “Morning-After Pill” dilemma.

For those who are unaware of this situation, the morning-after pill is essentially a highly concentrated birth control pill, which works by creating a hostile environment in a woman’s body, which prevents a fetus from forming.

In the United States, the morning-after pill is available only with a prescription, but following the actions of most other western nations, a move has been made to make these pills available over the counter, hoping they would reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.

These pills, unlike the controversial “abortion pills,” do not destroy a fetus, and the American Medical Association (a main adviser to the FDA) voted unanimously that the morning, after pills were safe, and overwhelmingly voted that they should be sold without prescription.

Yet the FDA, despite overwhelming scientific support, rejected the findings, keeping the morning-after pill unavailable over the counter, citing a lack of evidence towards its safety for those under 16, essentially ignoring most all scientific evidence to the contrary.

When a second proposal allowing only those 16 and older access to the pill as an over-the-counter drug was proposed, the FDA refused to make a decision on the matter, effectively leaving the possibility of over-the-counter morning-after pills dead in the water.

Instead of listening to the statements given by some of the nations leading doctors and scientists, it seems the FDA has put principle ahead of health, using personal opinions instead of scientific research to make judgments.

Much in the same vein as pharmacists who refuse to give patients medications they morally disagree with, the FDA is using its socially-conservative stance to deny Americans a pill that is overwhelmingly considered safe for a variety of reasons – some feel it would increase the amount of promiscuous sexual activity, others feel it is abortion.

Even though creating a hostile environment to prevent pregnancy is not legally abortion, creating an environment in which a conceived cell cannot survive is unacceptable to some more radical social conservatives.

Should those in charge of the FDA be allowed to deny Americans access to a pill that would reduce the unwanted pregnancy rate because the leaders of the administration share political ties with pro-life groups? Or should they save their political ideology for the voter’s box and do their job?

Using governmental positions for ideological advancement is nothing new, but in a department for something as important to every American as the Food and Drug Administration, politics don’t belong, and therefore, the FDA needs to make a decision on the morning-after pill being sold over the counter.

Filibustering science can’t become the norm in this nation.

Columns reflect the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the Northern Star staff.