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On Monday, the Department of Justice informed U.S. District Judge Edward R. Korman that they would withdraw the appeal they had made against Korman’s order in favor of permitting women of all ages ready access to morning-after pills. The DOJ said they would submit a plan in compliance with Korman’s order and if the plan was approved by him, then they would withdraw the appeal.
Though we do not yet know what’s to be in that ‘plan’ of the DOJ, it might be safe to presume that the Obama administration could do with less controversies and would rather not continue to pursue a course of actions concretely against its larger policies. Morning-after-pills do not have any effect on pregnancies, but taken within 24-72 hours prevents the conception.
It can save lives affected by mistakes, rapes or illegitimate sex or accidents like condom failure that keep happening all the time.
While scientists in the FDA had long decided and recommended certain morning-after pills for controlling undesired pregnancy, and moved in 2011 to allow over-the-counter sales of the pills, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius had overruled FDA scientists and said “No.”
The pills having been scientifically proved as safe, activists took the matter to court to make the FDA do what it wanted to do anyway – though the Health Secretary personally opposed the move.
Egos cost, and political egos cost the public coffers pretty heavily, so the Department of Justice decided to contest the matter in court, and when on April 5, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman, Eastern District of New York, ruled that the pills be made available without age or point-of-sale restrictions, the DOJ appealed.
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In his ruling made on April 5, Korman scathingly criticized the actions of Sebelius in not permitting the morning-after-pills to reach women of all ages and observed, “the motivation for [Secretary Sebelius’] action was obviously political … a politically motivated effort to avoid riling religious groups and others opposed to making birth control available to girls.”
Korman ordered the pills to be made available to women of all ages within 30 days from his order, but the Obama administration kept dragging its feet, going for appeal and trying to save face.
However, on top of Korman’s ruling, an appeals court ruled last week that it would immediately allow unrestricted sales of the emergency contraception lis pendens.
The administration decided it was good time to backtrack and go back to Korman and make a deal.
The pills in question are based on the hormone levonorgestrel and contain a higher level of the hormone progestin than is found in regular birth control pills.
