Judge urged not to delay morning-after pill ruling

NEW YORK (AP):

REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS advocates urged a judge yesterday to let teenage girls buy morning-after birth control without a prescription beginning this week, saying to delay enforcement of his ruling while the government appeals would cause "certain, significant and irreparable" harm to women.

The United States (US) Justice Department last week requested that it be given time to appeal last month's ruling by US District Judge Edward Korman in Brooklyn. It said the judge exceeded his authority when he said women of any age could buy both Plan B and cheaper generic alternatives as easily as they might buy aspirin.

In papers of their own, attorneys for the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit, said every day that the ruling does not get enforced is "life-altering" to some women.

FDA Policy

"Woman of all ages have waited over 12 years for the removal of arbitrary, capricious and politically motivated restrictions that stand in the way of exercising their fundamental right to access emergency contraception and avoiding unwanted or unintended pregnancy," the lawyers said.

Last week, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) loosened its restrictions on the Plan B One-Step morning-after pill, saying it can be sold without a prescription to those 15 and older. Previously, those sales were limited to teenagers who were at least 17. The FDA also said the pill could be sold on drugstore shelves near condoms, instead of locked behind pharmacy counters.