Morning-After Pills

In a further break from the Bush administration’s ideologically driven policies on birth control, the Food and Drug Administration has agreed to let 17-year-olds get the morning-after emergency contraceptive pills without a doctor’s prescription. It is a wise move that complies with a recent order by a federal judge, based on voluminous evidence in F.D.A. files that girls that young can use the pills safely.

For much of the Bush administration, the agency — ignoring the advice of its own scientists — refused to let the pills be sold over the counter to anyone. It insisted that women obtain a prescription, a time-consuming process that could often render the pills useless. The morning-after medication, actually two pills taken in sequence, blocks a pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of intercourse and is most effective within the first 24 hours.

Facing intense Congressional and legal pressure, the F.D.A. finally relented in 2006 and made the pills available to women 18 and older without a prescription. So far there has been no measurable effect on abortion or teenage pregnancy rates. But individual women in distress have surely benefited from easier access.

Now the agency has announced that it will not appeal a federal judge’s ruling that it must lower the age limit by another year. Still to be determined is how the F.D.A. will respond to the judge’s additional order that it consider removing any age restrictions, as recommended by health authorities. There is no indication that the manufacturer plans to seek the agency’s permission to market to girls 16 or younger.

(The New York Times)