In a harshly worded 59-page opinion, a federal judge on Thursday ordered the Food and Drug Administration to make morning-after contraceptive pills available over the counter to girls of all ages.
Senior United States District Judge Edward R. Korman of Brooklyn to "make levonorgestrel-based emergency contraceptives available without a prescription and without point-of-sale or age restrictions within thirty days."
"Although the average age of the onset of menses for girls in the United States is 12.4 years of age, about 10 percent of girls reach menarche by 11.1 years of age," the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services had argued. "If the application is approved, the product would be available, without a prescription or other pointof-sale restrictions, even to the youngest girls of reproductive age."
Korman agreed the pills would be available to young girls, but ruled that "these emergency contraceptives would be among the safest drugs sold over-the-counter, the number of 11-year-olds using these drugs is likely to be miniscule, the FDA permits drugs that it has found to be unsafe for the pediatric population to be sold over-the-counter subject only to labeling restrictions, and its point-of-sale restriction on this safe drug is likewise inconsistent with its policy and the Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act as it has been construed. Instead, the invocation of the adverse effect of Plan B on 11-year-olds is an excuse to deprive the overwhelming majority of women of their right to obtain contraceptives without unjustified and burdensome restrictions."
The judge called the department's policies "arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable," adding they showed "bad faith and improper political influence."
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