This undated image made available by Teva Women’s Health shows the packaging for their Plan B One-Step (levonorgestrel) tablet, one of the brands known as the “morning-after pill.” The Plan B morning-after pill is moving over-the-counter, a decision announced by the Food and Drug Administration just days before a court-imposed deadline. On April 30, 2013, the FDA lowered to 15 the age at which girls and women can buy the emergency contraceptive without a prescription — and said it no longer has to be kept behind pharmacy counters. Instead, the pill can sit on drugstore shelves just like condoms, but that buyers would have to prove their age at the cash register. (AP Photo/Teva Women’s Health)
The Obama FDA lowered the age for buyers of Plan B One-Step emergency contraceptive to 15 years.
The AP reported:
In a surprise twist to the decade-plus effort to ease access to morning-after pills, the government is lowering the age limit to 15 for one brand – Plan B One-Step – and will let it be sold over the counter.
Today, Plan B and its generic competition are sold behind pharmacy counters, and people must prove they’re 17 or older to buy the emergency contraception without a prescription. A federal judge had ordered an end to those sales restrictions by next Monday.
But Tuesday, the Food and Drug Administration approved a different approach: Plan B could sit on drugstore shelves next to condoms, spermicides or other women’s health products – but to make the purchase, buyers must prove they’re 15 or older at the cash register.
Manufacturer Teva Women’s Health, which had applied for the compromise path, said it planned to make the switch in a few months.