Girls Of Any Age Should Get Birth Control – US Judge

The ruling, which overturns restrictions maintained by the Obama administration on over-the-counter access to Plan B One-Step, enraged some conservative family groups.

In a ruling that could end a 12-year battle over access to the pill, Edward Korman, a federal district judge, accused the government of “bad faith”.

He said that the decision to block moves to make the pill freely available in 2011 was “politically motivated, scientifically unjustified”.

Kathleen Sebelius, Barack Obama’s health and human services secretary, blocked a recommendation from the Food and Drug Administration in 2011 that the pill should be available to girls off all ages without restrictions.

Mr Obama backed her decision. “She could not be confident that a 10-year-old or an 11-year-old going into a drugstore should be able … to buy a medication that potentially, if not used properly, could end up having an adverse effect,” he said, mentioning his own two daughters in his comments.

The decision enraged critics, including all America’s leading medical professional groups. They said that the government was bowing to political pressure.

The debate about access to emergency contraception is caught up in the debate about abortion and birth control.

Plan B contains high doses of a drug found in many birth control pills and can lower the risk of pregnancy by nearly 90 per cent if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sexual intercourse. It prevents the fertilisation of an egg and is not the same as the abortion pill, RU-486.

“I think this is a landmark decision in terms of providing women and girls in the United States access to a safe and effective form of birth control,” said Andrea Costello of the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund, which campaigned for the restrictions to be lifted.

Social conservatives sharply criticised the judgment. Anna Higgins of the Family Research Council, said: “There is a real danger that Plan B may be given to young girls, under coercion or without their consent.”

Mrs Sebelius’s department said it was reviewing the ruling and did not comment on whether it would lodge an appeal.