Is sexual desire a human right? And are women entitled to a little pink pill to help them feel it?

Those questions are being raised in a campaign that is pressing the Food and Drug Administration to approve a pill aimed at restoring lost libido in women. The campaign, backed by the drug’s developer and some women’s groups, accuses the F.D.A. of gender bias for approving Viagra and 25 other drugs to help men have sex, but none for women.

“Women have waited long enough,” the effort, known as Even the Score, says in an online petition that has gathered more than 40,000 signatures. “In 2015, gender equality should be the standard when it comes to access to treatments for sexual dysfunction.”

The drug, flibanserin, has been rejected twice by the F.D.A. on the grounds that its very modest effectiveness was outweighed by side effects like sleepiness, dizziness and nausea. The first rejection, in 2010, followed a decision by a committee of outside advisers to the agency who unanimously opposed approval.

On Thursday, F.D.A. advisers will once again consider whether flibanserin should be approved.

Sprout Pharmaceuticals, which now owns the drug, has submitted new data, including a study to demonstrate that the pill does not impair driving. Still, approval might hinge on whether the F.D.A. agrees to interpret the old data in a new way and whether the politics of such drugs has changed.