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.
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.