FDA Expands Access to Plan B Pill to 17-Year-Olds
May 06, 2009
FDA Expands Access to Plan B Pill to 17-Year-Olds
The FDA has expanded access of OTC Plan B (levonorgestrel) to patients 17 years of age. The "morning-after pill" has been available without a prescription only for patients 18 years of age and older since 2006. The approval was mandated by a federal court order issued in March that ruled that the FDA's earlier decisions on Plan B "were arbitrary and capricious” because they were not based on “reasoned and good faith agency decision-making”. The federal government will not appeal the court's decision to lower the age limit.
Source: Food and Drug Administration. http://www.fda.gov/cder/drug/infopage/planB/default.htm. Accessed May 6, 2009.