In the August 24 broadcast of KUSA's 9News at 10 p.m., co-anchor Adele Arakawa uncritically reported the unsubstantiated claim of the Respect Life Office for the Archdiocese of Denver that “making Plan B available over-the-counter [to women 18 and older] will jeopardize women's health” -- a claim the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) expert advisory panel and other independent doctors and scientists have rebutted.

On August 24, the FDA issued a decision to permit the over-the-counter sale of the emergency contraceptive drug known as Plan B to women 18 and older. This decision reversed a May 2004 decision that completely barred the over-the-counter sale of Plan B. As was widely reported at the time, the FDA issued its earlier decision despite the unanimous determination of the FDA expert advisory panel that had evaluated the drug “that the drug could be safely sold as an over-the-counter medication.” A 23-4 majority of that same panel recommended that the drug be given over-the-counter status. As Colorado Media Matters has noted, the FDA's May 2004 denial of over-the-counter marketing status to Plan B became the subject of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) investigation, which found that the FDA's decision, based on “the propensity for younger adolescents to engage in unsafe sexual behaviors because of their lack of cognitive maturity compared to older adolescents,” was unprecedented in that “there are no age-related marketing restrictions for any prescription or OTC contraceptives that FDA has approved, and FDA has not required pediatric studies for them.” The report also stated that the “FDA identified no issues that would require age-related restrictions in the review of the original prescription Plan B new drug application.”

On May 27, 2004, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Society for Adolescent Medicine issued a joint letter to the FDA urging the agency to reverse its earlier decision, stating that "[t]here is adequate safety information about the use of emergency contraceptives both from [Plan B manufacturer] Barr Research Inc.'s supplemental new drug application and data associated with long-term prescription use of these agents in the adolescent population." The letter also pointed out that "[a]pproximately one-fifth of the participants in the Barr trials were between the ages of 14-16, which represents ages below or consistent with the average age of first intercourse." On September 6, 2005, The Washington Post reported on a study published in the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology that “suggests the treatment is safe for adolescents and younger women.” The article quoted one of the study's co-authors, Dr. Philip Darney, chief of obstetrics and gynecology at San Francisco General Hospital, saying, “We didn't find, with regard to health issues, that younger women were any different than older women.” The Obstetrics and Gynecology study also concluded that young adolescents “did not compromise their use of routine contraception nor increase their sexual risk behavior.” The Post reported the study's finding “that sexual behavior was not riskier” among women who had ready access to the drug compared with those who had to see a doctor to obtain it.

From the August 24 broadcast of KUSA's 9News at 10 p.m.:

ARAKAWA: The emergency contraceptive pill Plan B will be more accessible to hundreds of women by the end of the year. Today, the FDA ruled that women do not need a prescription as long as they can prove they're 18 or older. Those 17 and under can still get the pill, but they need a prescription. The FDA ruling requires the manufacturer, Barr Pharmaceuticals, makes sure pharmacists are checking IDs. The Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado says the FDA decision is important in the way it prevents the need for abortions for adults, but it, quote, “forces young women who have had unprotected sex to decide between pregnancy and abortion.” And the Respect Life Office for the Archdiocese of Denver had this to say: “With false pretenses of safeguarding women's rights and health, making Plan B available over-the-counter [to women 18 and older] will jeopardize women's health and dignity.”