Barack Obama’s clarion call for the separation of science and morality was heard loud and clear by one judge in Brooklyn.

According to the FDA, women younger than 18 require a prescription to purchase Plan B, the abortion drug over the counter. But one judge in Brooklyn just decided that the 18 year old age limit was arbitrary and capricious so he established his own arbitrary and capricious age limit of 17.

And then he recommended that girls of all ages should have access to the drug on an over-the-counter basis.

The judge, of course, has no right to do so and no medical degree to make decisions like this to overrule the FDA but as you know we are a country ruled by our leaders in black robes. Let’s hope this will be appealed.

Some of the most disturbing language of the ruling comes from the scoffing at any kind of ethical judgement on science:
The Guardian is reporting:

Judge Edward Korman ruled that the FDA, which has restricted over-the-counter access to the emergency birth control drug to women 18 and older, must begin allowing 17-year-olds to buy it, and must also reconsider its ban on non-prescription sales to minors as young as 11.

In a blistering 52-page decision, Korman found that under the Bush administration, FDA restrictions on the drug had been influenced by conservative ideology and involved “political considerations, delays and implausible justifications,” rather than being grounded in science and “reasoned decision-making.”

“The record is clear that the FDA’s course of conduct regarding Plan B departed in significant ways from the agency’s normal procedures regarding similar applications to switch a drug product from prescription to non-prescription use,” he wrote.