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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 federal government on Monday 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.
The
Department of Justice, in the latest development in a complex
back-and-forth over access to the morning-after pill, notified U.S.
District Judge Edward Korman it will submit a plan for compliance. If he
approves it, the department will drop its appeal of his April ruling.
"Once
the court confirms that the government's understanding is correct, the
government intends to file with the Circuit Court notice that it is
voluntarily withdrawing its appeal in this matter," the department said
in a letter to the judge.
Last week, the
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. That order was met
with praise from advocates for girls' and women's rights and with scorn
from social conservatives and other opponents, who argue the drug's
availability takes away the rights of parents of girls who could get it
without their permission.
Advocates for girls'
and women's rights said Monday the federal government's decision to
comply with the judge's ruling could be a move forward for "reproductive
justice" if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration acts quickly and puts
emergency contraception over the counter without restriction.
Annie
Tummino, lead plaintiff in a lawsuit over unrestricted access to the
morning-after pill and coordinator of the National Women's Liberation,
said women and girls should have "the absolute right to control our
bodies without having to ask a doctor or a pharmacist for permission."
"It's
about time that the administration stopped opposing women having access
to safe and effective birth control," she said in an emailed statement.
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.
It 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.
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 Food and Drug Administration 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 early May 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.
He
also said they placed a disproportionate burden on blacks and the poor
by requiring a prescription for less expensive generic versions of the
drug bought by those under age 17 and by requiring those age 17 or over
to show proof-of-age identification at pharmacies. He cited studies
showing that blacks with low incomes are less likely than other people
to have government-issued IDs.
