Plan B available at the Pharmacy to women 17 and older

(wowOwow.com, fda.gov) A judge has ordered the Food and Drug Administration to allow Plan B to be sold without prescriptions to girls as young as 17. A press release by the FDA states that the morning-after pill, Plan B, will be available for over-the-counter purchase within the next 30 days. The statement released reads: Read more

Judge: Morning-after pill should be available to 17 year olds

(Drug Topics) A federal judge has ruled that 17 year olds should be able to get the morning-after pill without a prescription, and ordered the Food and Drug Administration to consider expanding access all women.

Before Monday's decision, the FDA had agreed to make the emergency contraceptive known as Plan B available without a prescription only to women 18 and older and only from a pharmacy counter. The Center for Reproductive Rights sued the government in Brooklyn Federal Court, charging the FDA put politics before science in drafting the rules.

In his written decision, Judge Edward Korman noted there appeared to be “political considerations, delays and implausible justifications” in the decision-making process. “The record shows that FDA officials and staff both agreed that 17-year-olds can use Plan B safely without a prescription,” Korman wrote.

Korman said the FDA's justification for this age restriction, that pharmacists would be unable to enforce the prescription requirement if the cutoff were age 17 rather than 18, lacks credibility.

“While the FDA is free, on remand, to exercise its expertise and discretion regarding the proper disposition of the citizen’s petition, no useful purpose would be served by continuing to deprive 17 year olds access to Plan B without a prescription,” Korman said.

A spokesman for the Brooklyn U.S. attorney's office, which represented the FDA, told various media outlets the ruling is being reviewed.