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Last updated on Thursday, May 2, 2013
(WASHINGTON) - The Justice Department announced Wednesday that it is appealing a federal judge’s ruling that would allow women of all ages to buy the morning-after-pill without a prescription.
Aishah Hasnie of FOX59 reports that the announcement came one day after the FDA said it would make emergency contraception without a doctor's order available to girls as young as 15.
Emergency contraception, like Plan B, works by preventing ovulation if it's used within 72-hours of unprotected sex. Currently, only women 17 and older have access to the drug without a prescription.
Last month, a federal judge ruled emergency contraception should be available over the counter to all women, regardless of their age. The Department is now appealing that ruling.
Planned Parenthood released a statement responding to the FDA action, saying in part:
"While we fully support this expansion of access to birth control, we continue to believe that the administration should lift all unnecessary restrictions to emergency contraception, consistent with the prevailing science and medicine."
The debate has sparked emotions among Hoosier mothers. Indianapolis mom Starlet Oliver told Fox 59, preventing a teenage pregnancy by using a drug should be a decision left between daughters and their parents.
"It is too young," she said. "Fifteen is not old enough to make those kind of judgment calls."
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