Victory for Women! Ruling in Morning-After Pill Lawsuit

On March 23, 2009, a U.S. District judge ruled that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must reconsider its decision to place unnecessary restrictions on the Morning-After Pill (also known by its brand name, Plan B). The Court ordered the FDA to act within 30 days to extend over-the-counter access to Plan B to 17 year olds (the drug was previously limited to women ages 18 and up). The Court also ruled that the FDA must reconsider whether to approve over-the-counter status for women of all ages.

All along, feminists have accused the FDA of toeing the anti-birth control line of the Bush Administration in their decision making on the Morning-After Pill. Today, the Court agreed.  U.S. District Court Judge Edward R. Korman found that the FDA "acted in bad faith and in response to political pressure" and engaged in "repeated and unreasonable delays.” For more information, see http://reproductiverights.org or http://ccrjustice.org/.

The Morning-After Pill Conspiracy has been leading the grassroots fight against restrictions on the Morning-After Pill. Nine of the coalition’s founding members are plaintiffs in the lawsuit, which was originally filed in January 2005. The coalition has sponsored consciousness raising, speak-outs, rallies, pickets, and a sit-in at FDA headquarters.

Feminist organizing – in the streets and in the courts – has forced the FDA to grant over-the-counter access to the Morning-After Pill for women ages 17 and up. This is a huge victory for women’s liberation!

We started this, now let’s follow it through! The Court says the FDA must reconsider its decision, so let’s make sure they do the right thing this time.

Not only are young women’s rights at stake, the age restriction affects all women. It puts the pill behind the counter and in pharmacists’ hands, and it forces older women to endure the insult of showing an ID to get birth control. We shouldn’t have to find a drug store with a pharmacist on duty, answer questions about our sex lives in a drug store line, or worry about whether the pharmacist will refuse to sell it to us based on supposed “moral” beliefs.

Plan B is a safe and effective form of birth control that should be on the shelf next to condoms at gas stations and grocery stores.

Checks may be made payable to "Women’s Liberation Birth Control Project" and mailed to:
Annie Tummino c/o WLBCP
73 Irving Ave #3L
Brooklyn NY 11237

The coalition was founded in January 2004 when the MAP was only available in the U.S. through a doctor’s prescription. We believe that grassroots organizing by women was a major factor in the FDA’s decision in 2006 to allow women, ages 18 and up, to purchase the pill at pharmacies, without a prescription. Nine of our founding members are also plaintiffs in a lawsuit against the FDA (Tummino vs von Eschenbach) charging the agency with discrimination against women and failure to follow medical science in their decisions on the MAP. The lawsuit could result in the removal of the age restriction and behind-the-counter status. 

The Morning-After Pill Conspiracy uses a variety of creative methods to protest the FDA and the Bush Administration’s stance on the MAP, including speak-outs and civil disobedience. Our goal is to highlight the injustice of the restrictions and to show that women are the real experts when it comes to birth control.

To read more about our history, Click here. 

• The Women's Liberation Birth-Control Project (formerly  New York NOW  Reproductive Rights Task Force)
• Gainesville Area (FL) National Organization for Women (NOW)
• Florida NOW Young Feminist Task Force
• Gainesville (FL) Women’s Liberation
• University of Florida Campus NOW
• New Morning Foundation - South Carolina