Controversy surrounding emergency contraception in the United States has lasted more than just one morning.
Family planning experts have been campaigning for more than five years to increase access to emergency contraception.
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The only thing predicting whether or not women would buy emergency contraception over the counter was income.
Lifting these restrictions will allow emergency contraception to be stocked on store shelves, making it more accessible to everyone.
My first experience with oral contraceptives was Plan B, the emergency contraception pill.
It's a fact that rates of unprotected sex do not increase when there is more access to emergency contraception.
Another concern among some is that access to emergency contraception will increase the rates of unprotected sex, especially among teens.
Research also indicates that teens understand how to use emergency contraception and that it is not intended for ongoing, regular use.
They say lowering the age to 15 for purchasers of the morning-after pill makes emergency contraception available for women of all ages.
Emergency contraception has been available by prescription in the US since 1999, before regulators approved over-the-counter sales of the drug in 2006.
More to the point, studies have repeatedly shown that emergency contraception is safe for use by women of all ages, including teens.
"Women all over the country will no longer face arbitrary delays and barriers just to get emergency contraception, " said Nancy Northup, the group's president.
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"Women all over the country will no longer face arbitrary delays and barriers just to get emergency contraception, " spokeswoman Nancy Northup told Reuters news agency.
It's the latest twist in a decade-long push for easier access to emergency contraception, which can prevent pregnancy if taken soon enough after unprotected sex.
Even minor policy resonated with me, like making emergency contraception available over the counter, something I had argued for as a 16-year-old Planned Parenthood volunteer.
Emergency contraception is effective for the first 72 hours after sex, but is more likely to work the sooner it is taken, and can cause side-effects such as nausea and diarrhoea in some women.
That's why when a woman fears she might become pregnant after her contraceptive has failed or she has had unprotected sex, she needs fast access to emergency contraception, not delays at the pharmacy counter.
With the appeal, the Obama administration is making clear that it's willing to ease access to emergency contraception only a certain amount not nearly as broadly as doctors' groups and contraception advocates have urged.
Rather than take matters into his own hands, the Justice Department argued to the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that Korman should have ordered the FDA to reconsider its options for regulating emergency contraception.
"These are daunting and sometimes insurmountable hoops women are forced to jump through in time-sensitive circumstances, and we will continue our battle in court to remove these arbitrary restrictions on emergency contraception for all women, " Northup said.
The ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Korman of New York means consumers of any age could buy emergency contraception without a prescription instead of women first having to prove they're 17 or older, as they do today.
You do not have to have a forensic examination if you go to a SARC, hospital accident and emergency department or your GP, but you may need to receive treatment for any injuries, emergency contraception or to check for sexually-transmitted diseases.
Earlier this month, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman of New York blasted the Obama administration for imposing the age-17 limit, saying it had let election-year politics trump science and was making it hard for women of any age to obtain the emergency contraception in time.
"While we fully support this expansion of access to birth control, we continue to believe that the administration should lift all unnecessary restrictions to emergency contraception, consistent with the prevailing science and medicine, " Planned Parenthood Federation of America President Cecile Richards said Tuesday in a statement.
"We are deeply disappointed that just days after President Obama proclaimed his commitment to women's reproductive rights, his administration has decided once again to deprive women of their right to obtain emergency contraception without unjustified and burdensome restrictions, " said Nancy Northup, president of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which filed the lawsuit that prompted Korman's ruling.
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