Pelosi avoids criticism of Obama, Sebelius on morning-after pill

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) avoided criticizing President Obama or Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius for the decision to overrule federal regulators and limit access to the morning-after pill. 

At a Thursday news conference, Pelosi said science should guide the decision about whether to make Plan B available without a prescription to girls younger than 17. But she did not criticize Sebelius for overruling scientists at the Food and Drug Administration to block wider access to Plan B.

{mosads}“I have the highest respect for Dr. Peggy Hamburg, the head of the FDA, and the recommendation that she made based on science,” Pelosi said at a news conference. “But it wasn’t satisfactory to the secretary for younger girls, and so perhaps more science is necessary.”

Many liberal groups, including women’s advocates and abortion-rights supporters, criticized Sebelius for intervening in the Plan B decision, saying it showed that the administration was putting election-season politics above science.

President Obama said earlier Thursday that as the father of two girls he supported Sebelius’s decision.