The Obama administration says it will no longer fight age restrictions on the sale of emergency contraception pills, making the morning-after pill available without a prescription to all women and girls. The U.S. Department of Justice said in a letter June 10 that it would comply with a court’s ruling to allow the unrestricted sales, withdrawing its appeal on the matter. Shannon Stapleton, Reuters,Texas Catholic

U.S. Catholic officials expressed disappointment with the June 10 announcement that the federal government will comply with a judge’s ruling to allow girls of any age to buy the morning-after pill without a prescription.

The decision reversed recent course of action by the federal government. On May 1, the Justice Department announced that it would appeal a ruling by a federal judge in early April that said the Food and Drug Administration must make emergency contraceptives available to all ages by May 6.

In a June 10 letter to U.S. District Judge Edward Korman in Brooklyn, N.Y., department officials said they will submit a plan for compliance with his ruling and will drop their appeal. The letter also said the FDA has advised the drug’s manufacturer to submit an application to make Plan B One-Step available over the counter without restrictions.

News reports June 11 said the Justice Department also told the judge it will not make available over the counter the two-pill Plan B product, which it described as being significantly different from the one-pill version. Two-pill generic versions of Plan B would remain behind store counters and require a prescription and ID for those under the age of 17.

Plan B, known generically as levonorgestrel, uses large doses of birth-control pills to prevent conception up to 72 hours after unprotected sex. According to the FDA, it will “not stop a pregnancy when a woman is already pregnant, and there is no medical evidence that the product will harm a developing fetus.”

Catholic officials faulted the federal government’s decision and some groups advocating women’s rights called it a step forward and a public health benefit.

Deirdre McQuade, spokeswoman for the USCCB’s Secretariat for Pro Life Activities, said in a June 11 email to Catholic News Service: “Many studies have shown that wider access to ‘emergency contraception’ among young people does not reduce pregnancy or abortion rates, but can contribute to higher rates of sexually transmitted disease. No public health consideration justifies the unregulated distribution of such drugs to children.”

Jeanne Monahan, president of the March for Life Education & Defense Fund, called the decision “hugely disappointing and not in the best interest of young women’s physical and emotional health.”

John DiCamillo, an ethicist with the National Catholic Bioethics Center in Philadelphia called the government’s decision “a great disservice” that “brings profound moral harm to our society.”

In a June 11 email to CNS, he said the wider availability of levonorgestrel in its pill form “continues to promote and entrench the contraception and abortion mentality that undermines the culture of life.”

He noted that the National Catholic Bioethics Center is “not a scientific research body and does not itself determine whether Plan B or other levonorgestrel-based ‘emergency contraceptives’ are abortifacients.” But he said a close analysis of the scientific and pharmacological literature indicates that this drug “can and very likely does act as an abortifacient when taken after ovulation has already occurred.”

In early June, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit said it would immediately permit unrestricted sales of the two-pill version of the emergency contraception until the appeal was decided.