Seventeen-year-olds will soon have access to emergency contraception without a prescription, U.S. health regulators said on Wednesday, complying with a court order to ease restrictions on over-the-counter sales of the so-called “morning-after” pill.

[efoods]Last month, a U.S. court ruled the Food and Drug Administration under the Bush administration had allowed politics to cloud its decision-making process regarding availability of the Plan B drug which had been restricted to those 18 and older.

It ordered the agency to allow nonprescription sales to 17-year-olds, and to reconsider its decision regarding over-the-counter access to Plan B.

The FDA on Wednesday said it would allow nonprescription access to 17-year-olds as soon as it received necessary information from the drug’s maker, Barr Pharmaceuticals Inc, now part of Teva Pharmaceutical Industries Ltd.

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