President Obama is supporting the decision to limit the morning-after pill to women under 17.

Mr. Obama said the decision was made by his secretary of health and human services, Kathleen Sebelius. On Wednesday, in a rare move, she overruled the Food and Drug Administration, which had recommended that the morning-after pill Plan B One-Step is safe and should be sold without a prescription to people under 17, just as it is now to those who are 17 and older.

“I will say this, as the father of two daughters: I think it is important for us to make sure that we apply some common sense to various rules when it comes to over-the-counter medicine,” Mr. Obama said.

“And as I understand it, the reason Kathleen made this decision was she could not be confident that a 10-year-old or an 11-year-old going into a drugstore should be able — alongside bubble gum or batteries — be able to buy a medication that potentially, if not used properly, could end up having an adverse effect. And I think most parents would probably feel the same way.”

I’ll give him the room as the father of two girls, but I’m not buying the scenario that a girl under seventeen buys contraceptives the way kids buy bubble gum. That’s the same mentality that says that women choose to have abortions the same way they decide to get their hair done; on an impulse or without thinking more about it.

As I said yesterday, it’s pointless to try to score points with the anti-abortion crowd. They already hate him, and this little homespun anecdote won’t make any difference, and it just may harm the very people he’s trying to protect.