WASHINGTON — Seventeen-year-olds will be able to buy the "morning-after” emergency contraceptive without a doctor’s prescription, a decision conservatives denounced as a blow to parental supervision of teens.
The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday it was accepting rather than appealing a federal judge’s order that lifts Bush administration restrictions limiting over-the-counter sales of "Plan B” to women 18 and older.
Women’s groups said the action was long overdue, since the agency’s own medical reviewers had initially recommended that the contraceptive be made available without any age restrictions.
Opponents, counter that it would encourage promiscuity and might even become a tool for criminals running prostitution rings, as well as for sexual predators.
"Parents should be furious at the FDA’s complete disregard of parental rights and the safety of minors,” said Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America.
The Plan B battle has gone on for the better part of a decade, through the terms of three FDA commissioners. It came to symbolize what some called the decline of science at the agency because FDA managers refused to go along with the recommendations of scientific staff that the drug be made available with no age restrictions.
by the associated press
AdBrite
AdBrite
