Agence-France Presse: The Obama administration will comply with a judge’s order to allow women and girls of any age to purchase emergency contraception, ending its efforts to restrict the drug’s availability.“To comply with the order, FDA has asked the manufacturer of Plan B One-Step (PBOS) to submit a supplemental application seeking approval of the one-pill product to be made available OTC without any such restrictions,” the FDA explained in a letter to Judge Korman.
The reversal on the politically sensitive issue means that anyone, including young girls, will soon be able to purchase the popular Plan B One-Step morning-after pill over the counter, without a prescription.
President Barack Obama’s administration had fought against US District Court Judge Edward Korman’s order seeking to make the drug more widely available after a more than decade-long court fight, warning of health and social dangers.
“Once FDA receives that supplemental application, the FDA intends to approve it promptly.”
I’ve always been a little lost on what the problem was in the first place. But I get the feeling that the administration’s taking advantage of the PRISM controversy to get some housekeeping done under the radar. This is the sort of news that would normally have Republicans clawing their eyes out, but they're so busy defending or attacking the NSA that they don’t have time for much else. The White House put together a climate deal with China yesterday with the same lack of fanfare — a move the GOP would’ve demagogued endlessly in a less active news cycle.
Someone in the White House has realized that this news cycle has become Friday Dump-Day seven days a week. Perhaps it was around the same time they noticed that it kicked the IRS controversy back to page 11 in your average newspaper. Politically, this story is turning out very well for Obama. The majority support the program and it still manages to suck up all the oxygen in the newsroom.
