AFTER more than 12 years of litigation, a lawsuit over emergency contraception seems to have come to a close. Late on June 12th Edward Korman, a federal judge, accepted the Food and Drug Administration's plan to sell Plan B One-Step, an emergency contraceptive, to women of all ages without a prescription.



It has been a remarkably strange episode, characterised by political meddling in what should have been a scientific decision. It was perhaps unsurprising that George W. Bush objected to the broad availability of emergency contraceptives. The actions of Barack Obama’s administration were less expected.



The medical and social arguments for emergency contraception are obvious. Unwanted pregnancies are bad. Preventing them is good. Emergency contraceptive pills are safe. Yet President Obama's health department has twisted every which way before doing at last what it should have done in the first place: allow pharmacies to sell a safe medicine, without restriction.



The legal contortion began in December 2011, when the FDA recommended that Plan B One-Step be made available over-the-counter to women of all ages. That same day Mr Obama’s health secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, promptly scrapped that ruling, against the urging of medical societies. She decided that drug's availability without prescription should be limited to women older than 17.



This was nonsense, said Mr Korman in a ruling on April 5th. The restriction was, Mr Korman wrote, “politically motivated, scientifically unjustified, and contrary to agency precedent.” Yet the Obama administration persisted. On April 30th the FDA tried a compromise, arguing that the pill be available over-the-counter to those 15 and older. It was only after further legal ping-pong that Mr Obama’s lawyers said on Monday that Plan B One-Step would be available without prescription to women of all ages.



Mr Korman has described Plan B as "among the safest drugs available to children and adults on any drugstore shelf.” Yet the victory is not complete. The Centre for Reproductive Rights, which has argued against the FDA in court, says that more forms of emergency contraception should be made available. It is unclear if the FDA will give Plan B One-Step the right to market its product exclusively—Mr Korman urged it not to, explaining that such a move would limit competition and raise prices. It is even unclear when Plan B One-Step might appear on pharmacy shelves. The FDA must approve the drug’s new labelling.



Still, the availability of at least one emergency contraceptive is hugely important. A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in 2011 puts it plainly. Researchers, pretending to be 17, called 943 commercial pharmacies in five states to ask for emergency contraception. In half of all calls, pharmacies in poor areas cited an incorrect age threshold for over-the-counter access. In 19% of the calls the researcher was told she could not obtain emergency contraception at all. This is unfortunate, given that emergency contraception works best when taken quickly. The new policy should alleviate the problem. It is only a shame that it took so long to come.