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| FILE - This undated file photo provided by Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc., shows a package of Plan B One-Step, an emergency contraceptive. The federal government on Monday, June 10, 2013 told a judge it will reverse course and take steps to comply with his order to allow girls of any age to buy emergency contraception without prescriptions. |
NEW YORK (AP)
-- The Obama administration's appeal in the legal fight over
morning-after pills has been officially put on hold until a judge weighs
a new plan to allow girls of all ages to buy the contraceptives without
a prescription, according to a government letter filed Tuesday.
Lawyers
with the Department of Justice and those for the plaintiffs who sued
over the issue told the clerk for the federal appeals court in Manhattan
that they wanted to suspend the appeals case until they hear again from
U.S. District Court Judge Edward Korman, U.S. Attorney Loretta Lynch
said in the letter.
The government had
appealed the judge's underlying April 5 ruling, which ordered emergency
contraceptives based on the hormone levonorgestrel be made available
without a prescription, over the counter and without point-of-sale or
age restrictions.
But on Monday, the
Department of Justice notified him that it was reversing course and
seeking prompt Food and Drug Administration approval of all-age sales -
an announcement that pleased girls' and women's rights advocates who
said it was long overdue and disappointed social conservatives who claim
it threatens the rights of parents and their children.
"It
is the government's understanding that the course of action ... fully
complies with the district court's judgment in this action," Lynch
wrote.
She added that if the judge agrees, "we
intend to file with this court notice that the government is
voluntarily withdrawing the above-referenced appeal."
It
was unclear when the judge would address the issue. A woman answering
the phone in his chambers on Tuesday declined to comment.
The
government had originally asked the judge to suspend the effect of that
ruling until the appeals court could decide the case. But the judge
declined, saying the government's decision to restrict sales of the
morning-after pill was "politically motivated, scientifically
unjustified and contrary to agency precedent." He also said there was no
basis to deny the request to make the drugs widely available.
The
government had argued that "substantial market confusion" could result
if the judge's ruling were enforced while appeals were pending, only to
be later overturned.
Last week, an appeals
court dealt the government a setback by saying it would immediately
permit unrestricted sales of the two-pill version of the emergency
contraception until the appeal was decided.
The
morning-after pill contains a higher dose of the female hormone
progestin than is in regular birth control pills. Taking it within 72
hours of rape, condom failure or just forgetting regular contraception
can cut the chances of pregnancy by up to 89 percent, but it works best
within the first 24 hours. If a girl or woman already is pregnant, the
pill, which prevents ovulation or fertilization of an egg, has no
effect.
The FDA was preparing in 2011 to allow
over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill with no limits when
Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled her own
scientists in an unprecedented move.
The FDA
announced in late April that Plan B One-Step, the newer version of
emergency contraception, the same drug but combined into one pill
instead of two, could be sold without a prescription to those age 15 or
older. Its maker, Teva Women's Health, plans to begin those sales soon.
Sales had previously been limited to those who were at least 17.
The
judge later ridiculed the FDA changes, saying they established
"nonsensical rules" that favored sales of the Plan B One-Step
morning-after pill and were made "to sugarcoat" the government's appeal.
Reluctant
to get drawn into a messy second-term spat over social issues,
officials in President Barack Obama's White House have argued that the
FDA and the Department of Justice were acting independently of the White
House in deciding how to proceed.
