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Struggle over the availability of Plan B

Continued from main page, "Religious right limits access to Plan B" (Go back)

State-by-state subsections follow general interest reports. Additional items on the availability of Plan B are at the end of the page.

ACLU Decries Congress’s Failure to Make Emergency Contraception Available to Military Women

American Civil Liberties Union, News Release via Common Dreams, May 11, 2006

WASHINGTON - May 11 - The American Civil Liberties Union today decried Congress’s failure to support legislation that would have made emergency contraception available at all military health care facilities. In 2002, the Department of Defense removed the safe and effective contraceptive from its Basic Core Formulary, making it much less likely that the drug will be stocked on military bases. Continue

Contra-Contraception

By Russell Shorto, New York Times Magazine, May 7, 2006

This important report provides a detailed account of how, as it has gathered force, the religious right has been quietly moving against contraception -- in many cases with the explicit goal of limiting sex to procreation within marriage. At the moment, the fight appears focused on the emergency contraceptive, Plan B. But, according to the article, some "pro-life" activists are also taking aim at condoms, IUDs and oral contraceptives. Click here for the report

Johnson: Battle over Plan B pill reeks of ideology

By Columnist Bill Johnson, The Rocky Mountain News, March 1, 2006

"That women today cannot purchase [Plan B] at the corner drug store, quite simply, is because higher-ups in the Bush administration, hewing hard to the conservative right, tossed insurmountable bureaucratic roadblocks and moralistic flimflam in the Plan B pill's road to availability." Click for the column.

Colorado

Contraception won't go to vote

Democratic leaders feared there wouldn't be enough resources to fight a possible ballot measure limiting abortion rights. They foresee other chances for the pill.

By Mark P. Couch, The Denver Post, May 4, 2006

Backers of emergency contraception have dropped an effort to put the issue on this fall's ballot after statehouse leaders pressured them not to do it. Continue

Editorial: Plan B for Colorado morning-after bill

HB 1212 would allow pharmacists to dispense emergency contraception without prescriptions, a different approach from a bill vetoed last year.

The Denver Post, February 24, 2006

"Rape victims in Colorado should have access to a safe, cost-effective way to prevent pregnancy. We urge approval of HB1212." Click here for the editorial.

Colorado House considers access to 'Plan B'

By Lindsay Renick Mayer, The Fort Collins Coloradoan, February 21, 2006

A bill that would allow pharmacists to prescribe emergency contraception to women was approved by a committee and sent to the Colorado House. It is intended to make Plan B available until it is approved for over-the-counter sale. Click here to read the report.

Just what the hospital didn't order

Rape response up to pharmacists in bill

By Lynn Bartels, Rocky Mountain News (Denver, Colorado), January 31, 2006

"Pharmacists would be allowed to dispense emergency contraception under a bill introduced Monday in the House.

"The measure by Rep. Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood, bypasses hospitals, which she believes gives it a better chance to be signed into law. Gov. Bill Owens vetoed a measure last year that required hospitals - including those owned by the Catholic Church - to provide information about emergency contraception to rape victims." Click here to read the report.

Connecticut

Victim Advocate Urged To Quit

Sullivan Criticizes Stand On Plan B

By Hilary Waldman, Hartford Courant, March 8, 2006

"Lt. Gov. Kevin B. Sullivan called on the state victim advocate to resign Tuesday, saying James Papillo's opposition to a bill that would require hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims violates his oath of office." Click here to read the report.

Massachusetts

Editorial: A Plan B mistake

The Boston Globe, December 8, 2005

"The Legislature took a major step to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions in Massachusetts by passing a law allowing pharmacies to dispense morning-after pills without prescriptions....The legislators failed, however, to include wording in the bill explicitly repealing a clause in an older statute that gives hospitals the right, for reasons of conscience, not to offer birth control services." Click here to read the editorial.

Missouri

Partisan bills tackle emergency birth control

At issue is whether pharmacists in Missouri should be required to fill Plan B prescriptions.

By Leslie Parker, The Columbia Missourian, January 31, 2006

"Bills filed by Democrats in the Missouri House of Representatives and Senate would require pharmacists to either fill prescriptions for emergency contraception in a timely manner or help patients find pharmacies that will. Competing bills filed by Republicans, however, would do the opposite, allowing pharmacists to refuse prescriptions they think will be used for abortions and prohibiting them from discriminating against employees who oppose such prescriptions." Click here to read the report.

Pennsylvania

ACLU of Pennsylvania campaigns for emergency contraception

March 2006

The American Civil Liberties Union of Pennsylvania has surveyed hospitals' policy of informing rape victims of the availability of emergency contraception and making it available. Their website has several suggestions for volunteer action on the issue. It also has this motivating information:

An estimated 25,000 women in the U.S. become pregnant following an act of sexual violence each year. If survivors of sexual assault were given emergency contraception (EC), it is estimated that 22,000 of these pregnancies could be prevented.

To go to the ACLU's campaign for emergency contraception, click here.

Hospitals can refuse Plan B

But several area lawmakers are trying to change that

By Jennifer Nejman, York Daily Record, December 3, 2005

"Two Pennsylvania senators and one state representative have introduced bills that would mandate that hospitals provide information about the [Plan B "morning after"] pills and give them to rape and sexual assault victims who want them. The legislation as it is written has no opt-out for individual doctors or religious-affiliated facilities." Click here to read the report.

Additional material on Plan B's availability

ACLU Decries Congress’s Failure to Make Emergency Contraception Available to Military Women

American Civil Liberties Union, News Release via Common Dreams, May 11, 2006

Plan B should be available

By Megan D. Lehman, The News Journal, December 18, 2005

How many abortions would be prevented if any woman could get Plan B at any time, over the counter, without interference? How many children would not be born to girls wholly unprepared to become mothers? These desirable outcomes should trump concern for an hours-old fertilized egg that has not yet implanted in the womb. Click here to read the report.