The Obama administration dropped its appeal of a judge’s order to allow the sale of the morning after pill over the counter to girls of all ages. This decision came after heavy criticism from women and abortion rights groups, unsettled by a democratic president that had sided with social conservatives.
The Department of Justice notified U.S. District Judge Edward Korman, who had ruled in April that the government must allow over the counter sales to any female, that it would submit a compliance plan and if approved, the department would drop the appeal. According to CNN, the department’s letter to the judge was sent after a federal appeals court rejected the Obama administration’s challenge last week. The letter mentioned that the Department of Health and Human Services and the Food and Drug Administration agreed to make a single-pill version of the contraceptive available “without a prescription and without age or point-of-sale prescriptions.”
“It is the government’s understanding that this course of action fully complies with the Court’s judgment in this action. Once the Court confirms that the government’s understanding is correct, the government intends to file with the Circuit Court notice that it is voluntarily withdrawing its appeal in this matter.” (CNN)
Although the administration’s change of heart marks significant progress regarding emergency contraception, the FDA will not allow underage girls to obtain a two-pill version of the drug, stating that there is not enough safety data available on the product for young adolescents. Advocates for women’s (and girl’s) rights, like Annie Tummino (the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit of unrestricted contraceptive use and coordinator of the National Women’s Liberation), believe and disclosed to TIME that “it’s about time that the administration stopped opposing women having access to safe and effective birth control.”
On the other hand, the government’s backpedaling has lead to growing tension among anti-abortion proponents. Also according to TIME, the director of the Family Research Council’s Center for Human Dignity, Anna Higgins, disclosed that they are “very concerned and disappointed at the same time because what [they] see here is the government caving to political pressure instead of putting first the health and safety of girls [and] parental rights.” The claims that the government caved to “political pressure” may not be completely unfounded because the administration dropped its appeal shortly after the court said it would immediately permit unrestricted sales of the two-pill version of the drug, thus government officials were “coerced” into moving forward with the “safer” one-pill contraceptive. Nonetheless, if the FDA acts quickly and puts the emergency contraceptive over the counter, the government will no longer restrict the purchase of the morning after pill which, according to CNN, was deemed safe for girls of all ages over two years ago.
