The federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) insulted women — and called its own credibility further into question — when it announced on August 26 that it would delay indefinitely its decision on whether to allow Plan B emergency contraception to be sold over-the-counter. The FDA already put off the decision in 2004, ignoring recommendations from its own advisory panel to do just the opposite.

The agency was supposed to rule on the issue by January 2005. In July, Senators Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-Washington) held up the nomination of new FDA chief Lester Crawford until they were promised that the decision would come by September 1. Clinton and Murray held up their end of the bargain, and Crawford’s appointment went through; for its part, the FDA weaseled out of the deal. In a letter last week to Plan B manufacturer Barr Pharmaceuticals, the FDA said only that it would seek additional public comment regarding the drug’s effect on girls under 17 (an interesting display of logic, since Barr is applying to sell Plan B OTC only to women older than 17).

This decision doesn’t promise anything but further delays. Said the senators in a statement: "We can only infer that FDA — and its newly confirmed administrator, Lester Crawford — are working to put ideological beliefs ahead of women’s health."