WASHINGTON — The Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday that it would allow 17-year-olds to buy the emergency contraceptive pill Plan B without a prescription, signaling a major shift in the agency's approach to what has been a polarizing debate on reproductive rights.
The decision follows a ruling last month from a federal judge who rejected a Bush administration policy that allowed nonprescription sales of the pill only to people 18 or older, requiring younger girls to consult a doctor before they could get it.
The FDA said in a statement Wednesday that it would not appeal the judge's decision and would support expanded marketing of Plan B to 17-year-olds upon receipt of a request from the drug's manufacturer. Males 17 and older could also buy the drug for their partners.
With its decision not to appeal, the FDA also implicitly agreed to follow the judge's order that it review whether to remove all restrictions on age and where the drug could be sold.
In California and eight other states, specially trained pharmacists are already allowed to provide the drug to females younger than 18 without a prescription. Previous studies have found that only about 25% of pharmacies in the state provide such a service.
The FDA's announcement was another example of the new priorities of the Obama administration, which in the last three months has moved to reverse several Bush-era restrictions on family-planning services.
Obama overturned a ban on U.S. support to international aid groups that provide abortion services and threw out a rule allowing healthcare workers to deny services that violate their moral beliefs.
Both changes were top priorities of family-planning advocates and women's groups, who had charged that the Bush administration was politicizing the practice of medicine.
The groups also accused the FDA of letting politics dictate scientific policy in restricting use of the Plan B pill.
On Wednesday, Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, praised the agency's apparent change of heart.
"We commend the FDA for taking swift action to ensure that its decisions on Plan B are based solely on the drug's safety and efficacy," said Northup, whose group had brought the suit against the FDA. "It is a key step for the agency as it seeks to restore confidence in its ability to safeguard public health and leave politics at the lab door."
