FDA planned to approve morning-after pill, ex-commissioner testifies News
FDA planned to approve morning-after pill, ex-commissioner testifies

[JURIST] A former commissioner of the US Food and Drug Administration [official website] testified in a deposition [text, PDF] that the agency postponed a decision to allow over-the-counter sales of Plan B emergency contraceptives [product backgrounder] while it considered how to restrict nonprescription access only to females 17 and older. Dr. Lester Crawford [official profile], a veterinarian who led the FDA for three months before resigning [JURIST report] amid charges that the delay was politically motivated [JURIST report], said the announcement last August was not intended to be a denial of over-the-counter sales. Rather, he expected then that the FDA would resolve the enforcement issue within six to nine months. A Government Accountability Office report [PDF] released in November characterized the FDA's review of Plan B as procedurally "unusual" [JURIST report]. The Center for Reproductive Rights [advocacy website] has sued the FDA in US District Court for the Eastern District of New York [official website] to allow over-the-counter sales of Plan B for all ages.

Separately, Crawford is under criminal investigation [JURIST report] by a grand jury for alleged financial wrongdoing and making false statements to Congress. The Center for Reproductive Rights is scheduled to depose [press release] Crawford's predecessor as FDA commissioner, Dr. Mark McClellan [official profile, PDF], on Tuesday. The lawsuit is Tummino v. Von Eschenbach [CRR materials]. AP has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Pope Urban II sparks First Crusade

Pope Urban II threw his support behind what would become the First Crusade on November 27, 1095 during the Council of Clairmont. The Pope urged the council's participants to render aid to the Byzantine Empire, which was being attacked by the Seljuks. Pope Urban called for a wide coalition of rich and poor to combat the threat, which eventually resulted in the conquest of much of the Muslim-controlled Levant by the Crusaders and the establishment of the Crusader States. Read Pope Urban's address.  

Catholic Code of Canon Law revised

On November 27, 1983, the revised Code of Canon Law of the Roman Catholic Church went into effect. Learn more about the history of Canon Law from Professor Kenneth Pennington of the Catholic University of America's Columbus School of Law.

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On November 27, 1895, Alfred Nobel signed his will, creating the Nobel Prize. Learn more about the history of the Nobel Prize and the Nobel Commission.