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Thursday, May 2nd, 2013

FDA Lowers Age for Buyers of Plan B Pill to 15

Author:     LAURAN NEERGAARD
Source:     The Advocate
Publication Date:     1-May-13
 Link: FDA Lowers Age for Buyers of Plan B Pill to 15
Stephan:   You may have already heard about this decision from the FDA. I view this as very good news for many reasons, not least because although it is far from perfect it would go a long way toward eliminating the need for abortions, and would provide an option in those Red Value states where women's reproductive health services have been virtually eliminated. I have been increasingly concerned we were going back in those states to life before Roe v Wade, when women often resorted to dangerous measures in the absence of safe, legal abortion services, and an estimated 47,000 of them died or were rendered sterile each year from backroom abortions. But the decade long struggle to get Plan B into the market ain't over yet. A few hours ago Obama's Justice Department announced it would appeal the court ruling by a Federal Judge that the pill be made available to all regardless of age.

WASHINGTON — In a surprise twist to the decade-plus effort to ease access to morning-after pills, the government is lowering the age limit to 15 for one brand – Plan B One-Step – and will let it be sold over the counter.

Today, Plan B and its generic competition are sold behind pharmacy counters, and people must prove they’re 17 or older to buy the emergency contraception without a prescription. A federal judge had ordered an end to those sales restrictions by next Monday.

But Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration approved a different approach: Plan B could sit on drugstore shelves next to condoms, spermicides or other women’s health products – but to make the purchase, buyers must prove they’re 15 or older at the cash register.

Manufacturer Teva Women’s Health, which had applied for the compromise path, said it planned to make the switch in a few months.

The question is whether Tuesday’s action settles the larger court fight. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman of New York blasted the Obama administration for imposing the age-17 limit, saying it had let election-year politics trump science and were making it hard for women of any age to obtain emergency contraception in […]

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