![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/56\/2013\/04\/Plan-B-300x218.jpg\" "\\"Plan")
<\/a>Today, Plan B One-Step is sold behind pharmacy counters, and buyers must prove they\u2019re 17 or older to buy it without a prescription or else see a doctor first. Tuesday\u2019s decision by the Food and Drug Administration lowers the age limit to 15 \u2013 and will allow the pill to sit on drugstore shelves next to condoms and spermicides or other women\u2019s health products. But customers must prove their age at the cash register.<\/p>\nTeva Women\u2019s Health, which makes Plan B, said it would begin over-the-counter sales in a few months.<\/p>\n
The question is whether Tuesday\u2019s action settles a larger court fight. Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman of New York blasted the Obama administration for imposing the age-17 limit, saying it had let election-year politics trump science and was making it hard for women of any age to obtain the emergency contraception in time. He ordered an end to all age restrictions by Monday, for Plan B and its generic versions.<\/p>\n
The FDA said Tuesday\u2019s decision was independent of the court case and wasn\u2019t intended to address it. Technically, the FDA approved Teva\u2019s application to sell Plan B in this manner.<\/p>\n
The Justice Department remained mum on whether it planned to appeal Korman\u2019s decision, and the White House had no immediate comment.<\/p>\n
The women\u2019s group that sued over the age limits said Tuesday\u2019s action is not enough, and it will continue the court fight if necessary.<\/p>\n
Lowering the age limit \u201cmay reduce delays for some young women but 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,\u201d said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights.<\/p>\n
The FDA said the Plan B One-Step will be packaged with a product code that prompts the cashier to verify a customer\u2019s age. Anyone who can\u2019t provide such proof as a driver\u2019s license, birth certificate or passport wouldn\u2019t be allowed to complete the purchase. In most states, driver\u2019s licenses, the most common form of identification, are issued at age 16.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are daunting and sometimes insurmountable hoops women are forced to jump through in time-sensitive circumstances, and we will continue our battle in court to remove these arbitrary restrictions on emergency contraception for all women,\u201d Northup said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Read more.\u00a0<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Details from the AP:\u00a0 The government is moving the morning-after pill over the counter but only those 15 and older can buy it \u2013 an attempt to find middle ground just days before a court-imposed deadline to lift all age restrictions on the emergency contraceptive. Today, Plan B One-Step is sold behind pharmacy counters, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":132,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,45],"tags":[11195],"class_list":["post-22709","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pro-life","category-ripped-from-the-headlines","tag-pro-life"],"yoast_head":"\n
FDA announces plan to sell Plan B contraception over the counter, lowers age limit to 15<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Details from the AP:\u00a0 The government is moving the morning-after pill over the counter but only those 15 and older can buy it - an attempt to find middle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/04\/fda-announces-plan-to-sell-plan-b-contraception-over-the-counter-lowers-age-limit-to-15\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"FDA announces plan to sell Plan B contraception over the counter, lowers age limit to 15\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Details from the AP:\u00a0 The government is moving the morning-after pill over the counter but only those 15 and older can buy it - an attempt to find middle\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/04\/fda-announces-plan-to-sell-plan-b-contraception-over-the-counter-lowers-age-limit-to-15\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-05-01T01:05:51+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-09-30T20:51:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2013\/04\/Plan-B-300x218.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/04\/fda-announces-plan-to-sell-plan-b-contraception-over-the-counter-lowers-age-limit-to-15\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/04\/fda-announces-plan-to-sell-plan-b-contraception-over-the-counter-lowers-age-limit-to-15\/\",\"name\":\"FDA announces plan to sell Plan B contraception over the counter, lowers age limit to 15\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-05-01T01:05:51+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-09-30T20:51:49+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\"},\"description\":\"Details from the AP:\u00a0 The government is moving the morning-after pill over the counter but only those 15 and older can buy it - an attempt to find middle\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/04\/fda-announces-plan-to-sell-plan-b-contraception-over-the-counter-lowers-age-limit-to-15\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/04\/fda-announces-plan-to-sell-plan-b-contraception-over-the-counter-lowers-age-limit-to-15\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/04\/fda-announces-plan-to-sell-plan-b-contraception-over-the-counter-lowers-age-limit-to-15\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"FDA announces plan to sell Plan B contraception over the counter, lowers age limit to 15\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/\",\"name\":\"The Deacon's Bench\",\"description\":\"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970\",\"name\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Deacon Greg Kandra\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"FDA announces plan to sell Plan B contraception over the counter, lowers age limit to 15","description":"Details from the AP:\u00a0 The government is moving the morning-after pill over the counter but only those 15 and older can buy it - an attempt to find middle","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/04\/fda-announces-plan-to-sell-plan-b-contraception-over-the-counter-lowers-age-limit-to-15\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"FDA announces plan to sell Plan B contraception over the counter, lowers age limit to 15","og_description":"Details from the AP:\u00a0 The government is moving the morning-after pill over the counter but only those 15 and older can buy it - an attempt to find middle","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/04\/fda-announces-plan-to-sell-plan-b-contraception-over-the-counter-lowers-age-limit-to-15\/","og_site_name":"The Deacon's Bench","article_published_time":"2013-05-01T01:05:51+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-09-30T20:51:49+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/files\/2013\/04\/Plan-B-300x218.jpg"}],"author":"Deacon Greg Kandra","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Deacon Greg Kandra","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/04\/fda-announces-plan-to-sell-plan-b-contraception-over-the-counter-lowers-age-limit-to-15\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/04\/fda-announces-plan-to-sell-plan-b-contraception-over-the-counter-lowers-age-limit-to-15\/","name":"FDA announces plan to sell Plan B contraception over the counter, lowers age limit to 15","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-05-01T01:05:51+00:00","dateModified":"2016-09-30T20:51:49+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970"},"description":"Details from the AP:\u00a0 The government is moving the morning-after pill over the counter but only those 15 and older can buy it - an attempt to find middle","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/04\/fda-announces-plan-to-sell-plan-b-contraception-over-the-counter-lowers-age-limit-to-15\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/04\/fda-announces-plan-to-sell-plan-b-contraception-over-the-counter-lowers-age-limit-to-15\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/2013\/04\/fda-announces-plan-to-sell-plan-b-contraception-over-the-counter-lowers-age-limit-to-15\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"FDA announces plan to sell Plan B contraception over the counter, lowers age limit to 15"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/","name":"The Deacon's Bench","description":"Where a Roman Catholic deacon ponders the world","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/7466606aa54639bf56a17705dcfc0970","name":"Deacon Greg Kandra","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7332f32e3041fc2061e292186274b171?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Deacon Greg Kandra"},"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/author\/deacon-greg-kandra\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22709","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/132"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22709"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22709\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22709"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22709"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22709"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}