Plan B
Obama administration urges review of Plan B ruling
The Obama administration on Friday urged the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit to delay the implementation of a decision that orders the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to make the popular "Plan B" emergency contraceptive (levonorgestrel-Teva) available over-the-counter for women as young as 15. In the brief, the government asks that the April opinion be stayed pending appeal, stating that the "Plaintiffs' opposition fundamentally misconceives the nature of the FDA drug approval process and of the citizen petition." Supporters of the judge's orders also filed a brief requesting that the appeals court remove the block and allow the order to be implemented. The court is to meet on Tuesday to discuss what is to be done about the stay, and it is still undetermined when the court will hear an appeal of the case itself.
In 2005 organizations and individuals concerned with women's health filed suit in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York in pursuit of expanded access to the drugs, including over the counter availability regardless of age. The judge ruled in their favor, but in December 2011 the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Kathleen Sebelius, intervened to block the ruling as it related to minors, citing inadequate evidence concerning adverse health effects. In April US District Judge Edward Korman overruled Sebelius' "unprecedented," decision, calling the prior requirement for adolescents under age 16 "unjustified and burdensome." The US Department of Justice (DOJ) appealed from the decision in May, stating that the judge had overstepped his legal authority. Korman denied the government's request to stay the motion pending the appeal under belief that the request was "frivolous" and "taken for the purpose of delay." The government was later granted the current stay by the Second Circuit, to be extended until May 28.
(Published by Jurist – May 26, 2013)