A federal judge has denied the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s request to halt a court order that forces the agency to lift the age limit for over the counter emergency contraception, according to Reuters.
U.S. District Judge Edward Korman in Brooklyn handed down the order on April 5. The FDA has been asked to take away all age and point-of-access restrictions on the “morning-after” or Plan B pill which is issued to stop unexpected pregnancies. If the pill is taken up to 120 hours following unprotected intercourse, it is expected to stop a pregnancy from occurring.
Korman said he would grant the FDA until May 13 to request a stay of the court order from the federal appeals court in Manhattan. The order was scheduled to take place Friday. The agency has appealed the ruling.
"In my view, the defendants' appeal is frivolous and taken for the purposes of delay," Korman wrote in the decision Friday.
This situation comes from a lawsuit that was filed back in 2005 by a group of reproductive rights advocates. The group wanted to lift all restrictions on over the counter Plan B pills also known as levonorgestrel-based emergency contraception.
Prior to Korman’s ruling, the pills were available over-the-counter to girls who were at least 17-years old.
In late April the FDA lowered the age limit to 15-years old but said it had nothing to do with the ruling earlier in the month. However, the group of reproductive rights advocates thought this decision was insufficient.
Speaking about the drop in age limit, Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, said it "does nothing to address the significant barriers that far too many women of all ages will still find if they arrive at the drugstore without identification or after the pharmacy gates have been closed for the night or weekend."
The FDA and officials from Teva Pharmaceutical Industries (the maker of the pill) declined comment.
