In late 2011 the Food and Drug Administration passed rules allowing the sake of Plan B - Levonorgestrel, and emergency contraceptive - over the counter without age limits, but this was overturned by the HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius.
That ruling has itself been overturned, and in language that recalls the basic problems posed by the single headed (hence autocratic) executive:
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman called Sebelius's decision "arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable."
"The motivation for the secretary's action was obviously political," he wrote.
Scientists and activists who have long been involved in emergency contraception reached the same conclusion about Sebelius's 2011 decision.
"I thought it was an act of cowardice," said Dr Michael Greene, professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Harvard Medical School and a long-time adviser to the FDA. "It was during the run-up to the 2012 election, and the administration didn't want the Republicans to beat them over the head with this" during a campaign when Obama was trying to appeal to middle-of-the-road voters.
Because physicians and doctors advising the FDA had concluded that the morning-after pills were safe for younger adolescents and did not cause promiscuity, critics saw Sebelius's decision as an instance of politics trumping science - something that particularly riled activists who had been led to expect otherwise.
