By Tony Pugh, McClatchy Newspapers, May 10, 2013

WASHINGTON — A New York federal judge on Friday denied a request by the Obama administration to delay his April 5 court order that allows emergency contraceptives to be sold without age limits or a prescription.

In a sharply-worded decision, U.S. District Judge Edward Korman of Brooklyn said the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s attempt to stay his order pending an appeal was “frivolous” and “taken for the purpose of delay.”

He gave the agency until Monday at noon to file another stay motion, this time with the 2nd U.S. District Court of Appeals in order to delay compliance with his order yet again.

Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of New York, would only say that government attorneys are “considering options” in the case.

In his 17-page ruling, Korman said the effort to make emergency contraceptives available without prescription has gone on for 12 years “even though they would be among the safest drugs available to children and adults on any drugstore shelf.” [....]