Plan B Battles Embroil States(morning-after" pill)

[cal04]

Proposals Mirror Red-Blue Divide

(snip)
Filling a void left by the Food and Drug Administration's inability to decide whether to make the "morning-after" pill available without a prescription, nearly every state is or soon will be wrestling with legislation that would expand or restrict access to the drug. More than 60 bills have been filed in state legislatures already this year, and that follows an already busy 2005 session on emergency contraception. The resulting tug of war is creating an availability map for the pill that looks increasingly similar to the map of "red states" and "blue states" in the past two presidential elections -- with increased access in the blue states and greater restrictions in the red ones.

(snip)
The FDA's inaction on Plan B has been sharply criticized by most major medical societies and many in Congress, and led to a lawsuit by the Center for Reproductive Rights in New York. The federal magistrate judge hearing the case on Friday concluded that the center had established a "strong preliminary showing of 'bad faith or misbehavior' " on the part of FDA officials, and so ordered the case to go forward and ruled that top current and past FDA leaders should be interviewed under oath. With the application in regulatory limbo, a growing number of states have passed bills that allow pharmacists working in conjunction with doctors to dispense Plan B to women who do not have a prescription -- with Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Mexico and California acting most recently. The Massachusetts bill was passed last year over Republican Gov. Mitt Romney's veto.

(snip)
While proponents are achieving some success in the more Democratic blue states, their efforts have not been as well received in Republican-leaning red states -- and Barr's lobbyist said the company spends little time pushing legislation in those more conservative states. The director of the Kentucky Right to Life Association said that a Plan B pharmacy access bill introduced this year is not expected to succeed.

(snip)
Jackie Payne of Planned Parenthood accused Plan B opponents in the states of mounting "an active attempt to blur the line and confuse people about emergency contraception -- saying it's abortion when it's not. Our job is to explain how emergency contraception avoids later abortions, and is in fact a win-win for everyone."
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/02/26/AR2006022601380.html

[Erika]

1. The right wingers want women barefoot & pregnant

Makes the women so much subservient and controllable. You know, like their Bible says women should be.

[Gloria]

2. This bullshit is getting to me--S.D. and this crap...it's is SO OBVIOUS

that this is a broad-based ANTI-WOMAN front.

Why don't any of our "leaders"--elected and heads of women's groups--just come out at say it??? Paint the big picture for the jackasses in this country. That a bunch of religious freaks are trying to imposes their "beliefs" on everyone. I am TOTALLY FED UP with the
"respect" showed to religion while women get crapped on...

[realFedUp]

3. Fundies need sex education

why do they always vote against their best interests?

[cally]

4. This is where whether reason or zealotry

wins. There is no reason for folks to oppose the morning after pill. Let's see what the states do. I'm fed up with politicians saying privately they support choice or paying for abortions and then passing laws risking women's health. I better go see what California is up to.