Gov. Jim Doyle Wednesday granted Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager's request to bring a lawsuit against the Food and Drug Administration for its delay in approving the emergency-contraceptive pill Plan B for over-the-counter purchase.

Last week, Lautenschlager asked Doyle for the authority to bring a legal suit against the FDA if an investigation were to dredge up evidence the agency intentionally impeded the morning-after pill's over-the-counter approval for nonmedical reasons.

"FDA's postponement in making a decision is the result of politics, not science, and negatively impacts the health of women," Doyle said in a letter to Lautenschlager, officially giving her the power to file the suit.

Plan B has been available by prescription since 1999. The makers of the emergency contraceptive, Duramed Pharmaceuticals Inc., applied for over-the-counter FDA approval in 2003. Plan B is marketed to prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours, reducing the risk by at least 89 percent if taken in that time frame.

Lautenschlager, who, in a previous release, called the FDA's inaction "politically motivated," lauded Doyle's decision.

"I am pleased with the governor's action," Lautenschlager said in a statement released Thursday. "We want to ensure that this contraceptive drug is readily accessible to women who want to prevent pregnancy, especially women who are the victims of sexual assault."

However, Marc Tuttle, communications director for Pro-Life Wisconsin, said the AG's plan for a lawsuit is a waste of time and money.

"This is a frivolous lawsuit," Tuttle said. "The FDA hasn't broken any laws."

Tuttle said because emergency contraception is a "super dose" of regular birth-control pills, it should only be dispensed with a doctor's consent.

"These are hormones that are on the market in smaller doses with a physician's oversight," Tuttle said. "The notion that you could somehow sue because the same physician oversight is required for the morning-after pill defies common sense."

But pro-choice advocates said women's health is being sacrificed because politics have interfered in the FDA's approval procedures.

"Obviously, this is about playing politics with women's lives," Kelda Helen Roys, executive director of National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League Pro-Choice Wisconsin, said. "It's a very troubling trend that the agency charged to protect us and improve our health is putting conservative ideological opposition to birth control before the needs of America's women."

Roys said all women should have "ready access" to birth control, adding the delay in Plan B OTC approval is especially damaging to the health of women who do not have any, or adequate, health insurance.

"This really affects the working poor who might not have the money to go to a doctor and pay $100 for a visit," Roys said.