Judge: 17-Year-Olds Don't Need Prescription For Plan B

A federal judge in Brooklyn said the Food and Drug Administration must give 17-year-olds over-the-counter access to morning-after pill Plan B. U.S. District Judge Edward Korman said the FDA, which only allowed women over 18 to buy the product without a prescription from pharmacy counters, was being too political for restricting access to the pill during the Bush years, saying the agency apparently allowed "political considerations, delays and implausible justifications" in the decision-making process. Korman pointed out, "The record shows that FDA officials and staff both agreed that 17-year-olds can use Plan B safely without a prescription," and ordered that the pill be made available without prescription to 17-year-olds within 30 days. The Center of Reproductive RIghts and others sued the FDA in 2005, "after the FDA denied a petition asking it to make Plan B available without a prescription to women of all ages," the AP reports. The Center's director Nancy Northrup said, "Today's ruling is a tremendous victory for all Americans who expect the government to safeguard public health."

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By Jen Chung in News on March 23, 2009 5:02 PM

Comments [rss]

Clarice City

Right, because a 17 year- old with a baby is so much better.

Papercutninja

Fuck you fundamentalists.

pazzia

yeah. what if the pharmacist refused to sell insulin because it was your own fault you got diabetes. you shouldn't have eaten all that sugar.

rasputinsghost

to put the Spiritof76's point analogously:

If one doesn't like selling boxes, perhaps one should not be in the box-selling business.

Splicer

Can't we just introduce it into the water supply? Solve a lot of problems.

Felix Hoenikker

My thoughts as well.

felixthecat2

How sad, the girls need to make sure their dirty bastard wraps it up. I am sure these pill aren't healthy for them.

dajamg

I'm all for it. I do have to say though, that BC should be over the counter too. I know alot of stupid girls who run out and get Plan B every single time they even get close to a guy's penis, because they're too afraid to ask their doctor for birth control. Not only is Plan B expensive, but taking it every time really fucks your insides up.

roe

I agree. Apparently you can get BCPs over the counter in other countries. I wish they'd do that here.

EastRiver

I would have preferred this to have come from the FDA rather than a judge. Despite their beliefs to the contrary, lawyers don't know everything.

Spirit of 76

Too bad the FDA under the current, unblindered administration can't order pharmacists to sell contraceptive aids. It's abhorrent how fundamentalist pharmacists say their personal beliefs prevent them from dispensing contraceptives. Unfortunately, the Feds have no say in licensing pharmacists and red states will allow those guys to keep their religious agenda rather than do their jobs.

Smitty025

Why should the government force people to sell things they do not want to? Would you like the government telling what what items you are required to sell if you owned a store? Should we require all restuarants (even vegetarian/vegan ones) to sell hamburgers because lots of people like them? Agree with it or not, things such as contraceptives are just as offensive to many people as eating meat would be to a serious vegetarian.

roe

Except that THIS particular case was not about forcing pharmacists to do anything. It was a judgment on whether or not a specific medication could be made available to minors. The same way the Big Bad Government decides the age where minors can drive, buy cigarettes and alcohol and purchase adult products.

And anyway, your analogy is flawed. How would it be if a vegetarian went to work in a steakhouse, and then refused to serve the steaks? He'd be fired, right? Same thing with pharmacists. If your morals prevent you from fulfilling all of your job responsibilities, get a new job at some Fundie facility where they'll accommodate you. In the meantime, you have no right imposing your personal religious beliefs on your customers and interfering with their treatment by withholding medication prescribed by their physicians.

Spirit of 76

Because pharmacies are not like restaurants. If they were, fast food workers would have to be licensed by the state after years of education and strict testing. Many smaller towns have only one drugstore. If a doctor prescribes something for a woman, like RU486, she should be able to get that in any drugstore, rather than getting a lecture from the pharmacist that she's an immoral harlot who should have abstained then being told that if she wants it, she'll have to go to the next town or maybe the next state. Believe it or not, most places aren't like NYC, where if you can't find something in one Duane Reade, you can try another or head to Rite Aid.

Smitty025

The owners of the restuarant do have to go through training and take a test to be certified to handle food. The length or level of difficulty of the training is irrelevant. I never heard of pharmicists lecturing people, just refusing to give the item to them. No matter how you try to slice this it is completely wrong and unacceptable for the government for force people to do things that are completely against their morals.