The Obama administration has complied with a federal judge who ordered girls of any age have the right to buy emergency contraception pills over the counter, the Associated Press reported.
U.S. District Judge Edward Korman was alerted by the Justice Department on Monday that they will send a plan for his approval. His signage will nullify the appeal of his April ruling that asked for distribution of morning-after pills with no prescription.
According to the letter sent to Korman, the FDA has told the company that produces the pills to put in fresh applications for drugs that would be labeled for sale "without a prescription and without age or point-of-sale prescriptions."
"It's about time that the administration stopped opposing women having access to safe and effective birth control," Annie Tummino, coordinator of the National Women's Liberation and main plaintiff in the case over widely distributed Plan B pills told the AP. She also mentioned that women and girls are both entitled to "the absolute right to control our bodies without having to ask a doctor or a pharmacist for permission."
The President and his cabinet received a storm of criticism from abortion and women's rights groups a few months back, when news that the POTUS had sided with social conservatives on reproductive legislation broke.
But now, President Obama is being blamed of falling to political strain, as opposed to prioritizing female health, especially for young girls.
Director of the Family Research Council Anna Higgins told the Associated Press that the anti-abortion organization does not support the government for bailing on its appeal.
"We're very concerned and disappointed at the same time because what we see here is the government caving to political pressure instead of putting first the health and safety of girls [and] parental rights."
When the judge first received an appeal from the government asking to overturn his decision to sell Plan B pills with no prescription, he fired back by saying that there was no foundation in turning down the request that the drugs be widely distributed. He also added that curbed sales of emergency contraceptive pills were, "politically motivated, scientifically unjustified and contrary to agency precedent."
The FDA was even prepared to sell Plan B pills over the counter two years ago, until Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius swatted her fellow scientists' research away, casting her vote against the distribution.
Plan B pills give higher doses of progestin than most birth control pills-if taken in a three-day window after sexual assault, condom failure, or forgetting to use contraceptive, the chances of getting pregnant are slashed by 89 percent.
The pill does not do anything to women who are already pregnant.
