You turn to us for voices you won't hear anywhere else.

Sign up for Democracy Now!'s Daily Digest to get our latest headlines and stories delivered to your inbox every day.

FDA Lowers Plan B Eligibility Age to 15 Years Old

HeadlineMay 01, 2013

The Food and Drug Administration has approved making the emergency contraceptive pill “Plan B One Step” available without a prescription to women 15 and older. The move will allow the pill to be placed on drugstore shelves instead of behind the pharmacy counter. The pill had previously been available without a prescription only to those 17 and older. The FDA announcement follows a federal judge’s order earlier this month that the “morning-after pill” be made available over-the-counter to all women, with no age limit, within 30 days. The FDA says its approval is independent of that decision. Reproductive justice advocates have long said any age limit can bar access to immigrants and others who lack ID, confuse pharmacists, and delay access for all women.

The original content of this program is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Please attribute legal copies of this work to democracynow.org. Some of the work(s) that this program incorporates, however, may be separately licensed. For further information or additional permissions, contact us.

Non-commercial news needs your support

We rely on contributions from our viewers and listeners to do our work.
Please do your part today.
Make a donation
Top