Campaigners celebrate as Plan B morning-after pill made available to all

Campaigners have welcomed as a "huge breakthrough" the Obama administration's decision to give up its fight to limit the sale of a morning-after pill.

Plan B will soon become available to women and girls of all ages without a prescription, following a decade-long battle that pitted successive White House administrations and the Food and Drug Administration against reproductive-rights campaigners, physicians and women's groups seeking to make emergency contraception universally available.

Such groups have long argued that since morning-after pills such as Plan B One Step are time-sensitive and safe, they should be made as readily available as over-the-counter pain relievers. Plan B and similar medicines that delay ovulation are most effective within 72 hours of unprotected sex.

The justice department in a letter on Monday said it planned to comply with a court's ruling to allow unrestricted sales of Plan B One Step and said it would withdraw its appeal against it. It said it would put into place Judge Edward Korman's order to have the FDA approve the pill for non-prescription use.

In 2009, the pill became available without prescription to women over the age of 17 who present proof of identification. In Plan B, the synthetic hormone levonorgestrel acts to postpone ovulation, preventing sperm from coming into contact with an egg. It does not cause an abortion or otherwise end a pregnancy and will not work if a woman is already pregnant.