US court orders wider access for morning-after pill

Googkle – AFP, Kerry Sheridan (AFP), 5 april 2013 

Contraceptive pills pictured in Lille, France, on January 28, 2013 (AFP,

PHILIPPE HUGUEN)

WASHINGTON — After a decade-long battle over access to emergency contraception, a federal judge on Friday ordered US regulators to make the morning-after pill available over the counter without limits on age.

US District Court Judge Edward Korman ruled that a decision in 2011 by the chief of US Health and Human Services to require teens under 17 to obtain a prescription was "politically motivated" and "scientifically unjustified."

The ruling orders the Food and Drug Administration to make levonorgestrel-based emergency contraception available over the counter to people under 17 without a doctor's prescription.

Emergency contraceptives contain the same active ingredients as birth control pills but at higher doses, and can prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse.

Experts say it is most effective during the first 24 hours.

However, US pharmacies have required a prescription for those less than 17 years old. Those 17 and over must present government-issued identification in order to purchase it, and it has only been available at pharmacies.

The Center for Reproductive Rights, which brought the lawsuit, hailed the ruling as a "landmark decision" and a "victory" for women.

"Today science has finally prevailed over politics," said the group's president, Nancy Northup. "Women all over the country will no longer face arbitrary delays and barriers just to get emergency contraception.

"It's a true victory for all women, especially young women, women without government-issued identification, and those who live in areas with limited pharmacy hours."

An FDA spokeswoman told AFP the agency would have no comment on the ruling.

"This is an ongoing legal matter for the agency, so we won't have any additional comment at this time," she said.

The fight over access to the morning-after pill, which was approved for prescription use in 1999, has been raging since 2001, with advocates saying there should be wider access and critics warning of health and social dangers.

In December 2011, the FDA was poised to allow over-the-counter access to a morning-after pill called Plan B One-Step, made by Pennsylvania-based Teva Pharmaceuticals.

But this was swiftly blocked by another government agency, Health and Human Services.

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said there was not enough data on its use by under-17s and cited "significant cognitive and behavioral differences between older adolescent girls and the youngest girls of reproductive age."

President Barack Obama supported Sebelius, saying at the time she was not confident it should be as available to 10- or 11-year-olds as bubble gum or batteries, since it could have adverse effects if not used properly.

However, Judge Korman described US regulators' moves to restrict access as "arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable."

Since fewer than three percent of girls under 13 are sexually active in the Untied States, "the potential population about whom the Secretary is concerned is infinitesimal," he wrote.

His ruling orders the FDA to make Plan B and its generic equivalents available without a prescription and without age restrictions within thirty days.

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"Recalibration of Free Choice"–  Mar 3, 2012 (Kryon Channelling by Lee Caroll) - (Subjects: (Old) Souls, Midpoint on 21-12-2012, Shift of Human Consciousness, Black & White vs. Color, 1 - Spirituality (Religions) shifting, Loose a Pope “soon”, 2 - Humans will change react to drama, 3 - Civilizations/Population on Earth,  4 - Alternate energy sources (Geothermal, Tidal (Paddle wheels), Wind), 5 – Financials Institutes/concepts will change (Integrity – Ethical) , 6 - News/Media/TV to change, 7 – Big Pharmaceutical company will collapse “soon”, (Keep people sick), (Integrity – Ethical)  8 – Wars will be over on Earth, Global Unity, … etc.) - (Text version)

“…  3 - Longer Life is Going to Happen, But…

Here is one that is a review. We keep bringing it up because Humans don't believe it. If you're going to start living longer, there are those who are frightened that there will be overpopulation. You've seen the way it is so far, and the geometric progression of mathematics is absolute and you cannot change it. So if you look at the population of the earth and how much it has shifted in the last two decades, it's frightening to you. What would change that progression?

The answer is simple, but requires a change in thinking. The answer is a civilization on the planet who understands a new survival scenario. Instead of a basic population who has been told to have a lot of children to enhance the race [old survival], they begin to understand the logic of a new scenario. The Akashic wisdom of the ages will start to creep in with a basic survival scenario shift. Not every single woman will look at herself and say, "The clock is ticking," but instead can say, "I have been a mother 14 times in a row. I'm going to sit this one out." It's a woman who understands that there is no loss or guilt in this, and actually feels that the new survival attribute is to keep the family small or not at all! Also, as we have said before, even those who are currently ignorant of population control will figure out what is causing babies to be born [Kryon joke].

Part of the new Africa will be education and healing, and eventually a zero population growth, just like some of the first-world nations currently have. Those who are currently tied to a spiritual doctrine will actually have that doctrine changed (watch for it) regarding Human birth. Then they will be able to make free choice that is appropriate even within the establishment of organized religion. You see, things are going to change where common sense will say, "Perhaps it would help the planet if I didn't have children or perhaps just one child." Then the obvious, "Perhaps I can exist economically better and be wiser with just one. It will help the one!" Watch for these changes. For those of you who are steeped in the tradition of the doctrines and would say that sounds outrageously impossible, I give you the new coming pope [Kryon smile]. For those of you who feel that uncontrolled procreation is inevitable, I encourage you to see statistics you haven't seen or didn't care to look at yet about what first-world countries have already accomplished on their own, without any mandates. It's already happening. That was number three.….”