Emergency Contraception to Be Available on Store Shelves

WASHINGTON, April 5, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Statement by Susannah Baruch, Interim President & CEO of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project, on Federal District Judge Edward Korman's order directing the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to remove the age restriction on emergency contraception within 30 days and allow the product on pharmacy shelves for all women:

"Today we celebrate a long overdue victory for all women.  Our decade long struggle is finally over. Emergency contraception will now sit on store shelves allowing timely access to this important product used to prevent unintended pregnancy. We urge Secretary Sebelius and the FDA to move swiftly to put emergency contraception on store shelves and into the hands of women and couples who need it.

"For years, medical experts, including scientists at the Food & Drug Administration, American Academy of Pediatrics, and American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, have agreed that emergency contraception is safe for over-the-counter use by women of all ages.

"Finally science won and the years of unnecessary politicization of a safe and effective contraceptive are over.

"This ruling significantly expands access to comprehensive reproductive health options for women.  All women will now have easier access to back-up birth control when they experience a contraceptive failure.  A broken condom does not have to mean an unplanned pregnancy.  When a woman can plan her pregnancy, there are clear benefits for the health, economic, and social well-being of her and her family."

Emergency contraception is a safe, effective back-up method of birth control that can prevent pregnancy in the first few days after unprotected sex or contraceptive failure. Current emergency contraceptive products available over-the-counter are Plan B® One-Step and a Plan B generic, Next Choice One Dose®.

For more information about emergency contraception, please visit RHTP's website here.

SOURCE Reproductive Health Technologies Project