The Federal Food and Drug Administration, intended to be an objective agency concerned with the health and safety of American consumers, has clearly been taken captive by partisan politics.

The issue involves the so-called "Plan B" or morning-after contraceptive pill, which was proposed for over-the-counter sales.

Despite strong scientific support for the pill, top FDA officials have blocked the approval process. The delay, they said, was due to scientific confusion over the value of the pill and, later, due to concerns that it might be sold to minors.

Now we have strong evidence that the delay was due to anti-abortion politics, pure and simple. A report out of the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office says that FDA officials decided to block approval of the pill months before the scientific review was even finished.

According to the GAO, the decision of the FDA officials to override recommendations of its scientific committee on the Plan B pill was the only such instance out of 67 applications to sell over-the-counter drugs spanning more than a decade.

There is strong scientific evidence that this pill works well, with no reported side effects. The latest research also trumps the anti-abortion objections by showing the pill works by blocking the release of an egg, so no embryo is even formed.

FDA officials should do the right thing and respond by providing the approvals their own scientific advisers have called for.