WASHINGTON -- A federal judge has ruled that there should be no age restrictions on the sale of the morning-after pill. A timeline of decisions on the emergency contraception now sold as Plan B One-Step.
1999: The Food and Drug Administration approves prescription sales of Plan B.
2006: The FDA approves non-prescription sales for women 18 and older. Younger women would need a doctor's prescription. Because of the age limit, the contraception is behind pharmacy counters, so consumers have to ask for it rather than picking it up off the shelves.
2009: U.S. District Judge Edward Korman in New York orders the FDA to lower the age restrictions to 17.
2011: Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overrules FDA and bars over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill. She says young girls shouldn't be able to buy emergency contraception on their own.
2013: Korman rules that the age restrictions on over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill are "arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable" and must end within 30 days.
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