Breaking News: Judge Orders F.D.A. to Make Morning-After Pill Available Over the Counter for All Ages
Breaking News: Judge Orders F.D.A. to Make Morning-After Pill Available Over the Counter for All Ages-- The New York Times
Currently, women 16 and younger need a prescription to obtain the morning-after pill — which is designed to be used within five days of unprotected intercourse — while women 17 and older are able to obtain it directly from their pharmacy counters.
Judge Edward Korman called the upholding of these age restrictions "arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable."
From the Times:
The decision, on a fraught and politically controversial subject, comes after a decade-long fight over who should have access to the pill and under what circumstances, and it counteracts an unprecedented move by the Obama administration's Health and Human Services secretary who in 2011 overruled a recommendation by the Food and Drug Administration to make the pill available for all ages without a prescription.
From the AP, the Justice Department released a guarded statement:
"We are reviewing the decision and evaluating the government's options," said F. Franklin Amanat, a lawyer for the government.