Sad news. The Obama administration, specifically Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, is overruling the scientists and blocking rules to allow over-the-counter dispensation of Plan B, or the morning-after pill to prevent pregnancy, to women younger than 17.

It’s a political, not medical, decision, says the report in the Hill. Hard to disagree. The Bush administration similarly overruled the FDA.

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Abortion rights groups traditionally allied with Democrats blasted the decision, calling it “a failure to deliver change.”

“We had every confidence that this Bush-era policy would come to an end,” NARAL Pro-Choice America President Nancy Keenan said in a statement. “The Obama administration has broken a key promise to the American people that it would base its decisions on sound science and what’s in the best interest of women’s health.”

I should have mentioned that this rule makes it harder even for adults to get the pills because they can’t be displayed on open shelves, but must be requested from a pharmacist. As the New York Times notes, women sometimes want emergency contraception when pharmacies aren’t open.

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