WASHINGTON — Women as young as 17 are now able to purchase Plan B — the “morning after pill” — without a prescription.

U.S. District Judge Edward Korman ordered the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to grant 17-year-olds access to the medication, also known as emergency contraception. Planned Parenthood’s president, Cecile Richards, lauded the March 23 decision as putting “women’s health above politics.”

The Center for Reproductive Rights brought a lawsuit against the FDA in 2005 for failing to make the drug available to women of all ages without a prescription. In 2006, the FDA agreed that Plan B could be sold to those 18 and older without a prescription, but the Center for Reproductive Rights continued its suit “to ensure that Plan B would be granted true over-the-counter status and made available to all women, including young women who might benefit most from this form of contraception.”

In his decision, Judge Korman of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York, a Ronald Reagan appointee, said that the FDA’s policy of allowing Plan B to be sold over the counter only to those 18 and older was driven by “political considerations.” Korman told the FDA it had 30 days to make the drug available to women 17 and older, and it should also consider whether to grant access to even younger women.

On April 22, the FDA announced that it would not appeal Korman’s decision.

“This decision is in line with sound medical findings and puts women’s health first,” said Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL (National Abortion Rights Action League) Pro-Choice America. “What a welcome change from the FDA under President Bush where, as the federal court case documented, political shenanigans and gamesmanship trumped good health and sound science, delaying women’s access to emergency contraception.”

Supporters of Plan B claim that the drug will lower the rate of both unplanned pregnancy and surgical abortions, and they want to make emergency contraception available over the counter to women of all ages. But opponents cite recent studies, such as one conducted in Great Britain, indicating that wide availability of emergency contraception has not led to a corresponding drop in the abortion rate.

“We really have not seen a good study that shows Plan B reduces either unplanned pregnancy or the number of abortions,” said Dr. Kathleen Raviele of Atlanta, an obstetrician-gynecologist and past president of the Catholic Medical Association.

Raviele explained that Plan B is “the equivalent of 40 or 50 progesterone-only birth control pills.”

“The drug has multiple ways of working. It is pretty effective at preventing ovulation if a woman is five days or more away from ovulating, but if taken closer to ovulation it works instead to possibly prevent the implantation of an embryo,” she said. “Women are only fertile for a small window of time each cycle, so many of them are taking this huge dose of synthetic hormones when they don’t even need it, and since it’s over the counter, they don’t even have to see a doctor or talk to a parent first.”

‘Lost Teaching Moment’

Deirdre McQuade, assistant director for policy and communications at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities, said there is “a lot of confusion in the media reporting on this.”

“Anyone 17 or older — not just women — can get Plan B over the counter. An older man can give it to a younger woman, to a girl of any age. Not only does this decision jeopardize the health of young women, it could perpetuate the cycle of sexual abuse.”

McQuade added that Plan B is being treated “like candy in a vending machine” by its proponents and cited pharmacists who claim there are women taking it more than once in a single cycle.

“The drug company is not being honest about the possible abortifacient aspect of Plan B,” she said.

According to Sister Carol Keehan of the Daughters of Charity, president and CEO of the Catholic Health Association, the drug’s over-the-counter availability sends the mistaken message that it is “as safe as it can be; it’s not a big deal. But this is an extremely powerful drug, and making it available to younger and younger women with no prescription is playing very cavalier with their health, especially when we have no long-term studies on what repeated use of Plan B does to the 16, 17, 18-year-old population.”

Joe Langfeld, deputy director of Human Life Alliance, an organization focused on both pro-life and abstinence education for young people, said, “We need to educate young women and men about what this really means for them, explain that those who want to sell them Plan B over the counter are not interested in their health; they are interested in profits. Young people should be encouraged to make healthy, responsible decisions in their personal relationships.”

“As a Catholic, pro-life doctor, part of my role is to talk to my patients about the consequences of their behavior and their choices and try to help them live healthy lives,” said Raviele. “Making this drug available over the counter to a young woman of 17 means that there may be no opportunity for a parent or trusted physician to talk to her about potentially risky behavior. That possible teaching moment is lost forever.”

Nicole Callahan writes from

Durham, North Carolina.