Posted on 05/27/2005 10:08:39 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
A state lawmaker said Thursday the Legislature needs to send a message of disapproval to the University of Wisconsin System after a school clinic urged students to get advance prescriptions for emergency contraception before leaving on Spring Break.
Rep. Daniel LeMahieu, R-Oostburg, told his colleagues during an Assembly committee hearing that his proposal to prohibit the UW System from dispensing or prescribing the so-called morning-after pill would do just that.
But Rep. Terese Berceau, D-Madison, countered that the legislation was a misguided attempt to change the sexual behavior of college students, and taking away the morning-after pill from college women will only lead to more unintended pregnancies and abortions.
Other opponents argued the bill was worded vaguely enough that it could prohibit the system from dispensing any oral contraceptives.
"The author will not succeed in stopping college students from having sex," Berceau said. "But he will probably be successful in stopping safe sex and causing an increase of unintended pregnancies."
LeMahieu was outraged at ads taken out in a campus newspaper by the University Health Services, the clinic serving UW-Madison students. They invited students to call for a prescription for the morning-after pill.
Kathleen Poi, executive director of University Health Services at UW-Madison, conceded that the ads were poorly worded and wished she could do them over. But she said she supported the ad's intent to make students aware of the pills.
Emergency contraception reduces a woman's chance of becoming pregnant within 72 hours of intercourse by preventing ovulation or fertilization and interfering with implantation of a fertilized egg into the uterus.
Thursday's hearing on the bill turned into a debate over whether use of the drug constituted an abortion, whether access to the pill encouraged promiscuous behavior and whether the system should provide the pill to students.
Dr. Leslie Markman of Amherst said the pill gives women a false sense of security that they can escape the consequences of risky behavior, and some don't consider the drug's possible side effects. Markman said she believes the morning-after pill is a chemical abortion.
Beth Wiedel, a third-year medical resident at UW-Madison, countered that the students she has given the drug to are worried that a broken condom or a forgotten birth control pill have put them at risk of an unwanted pregnancy. She said there was no evidence they used to drug as an excuse for promiscuous behavior.
Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager released an opinion earlier this year raising several concerns about the legislation, saying it would be unconstitutional on several fronts. Among them, she believes the proposal violates the First Amendment's right to free speech because it would prohibit the advertising of emergency contraception by the system or on system property.
The Legislature and the governor must approve the legislation for it to become law.
Aarrgghhh!
They don't sound "sponge-worthy!"
>>But he will probably be successful in stopping safe sex and causing an increase of unintended pregnancies." <<
How on earth will it stop safe sex? Seems to me that if a young lass needs the Abortion Pill, she's way beyond "safe sex" to begin with!
Heaven forbid we should prevent people from the consequences of their behavior!
Attention college women - screwing men on spring break is a great way to not only get pregnant, but acquire a nice STD. Many STDs are permanent and never go away (see herpes).
So, there are CONSEQUENCES to sex. And sucking a baby out of your body is not a moral way to deal with them.
So, either keep your legs together or buy a friggin' vibrator.
"Heaven forbid we should prevent people from the consequences of their behavior!"
Not to mention that this "pill" is a massive dose of hormones which have already killed a couple of women due to massive bleeding.
The UW is handing this out like lollipops! What happens when the first co-ed dies? These socialists are just beyone the pale!
>>What happens when the first co-ed dies?<<
1) Blame the Bush administration
2) Blame the pharmaceutical companies
3) Increased funding for "sex ed" workshops
Last on this list - waaaay down at the bottom will be "blame the slut for not keeping her pants on."
If these coeds are not married, and I assume the vast majority of them are not, then they ARE using the drug as an excuse for promiscuous behavior
Freudian slip: the only thing they're worried about being "safe" from is a born baby. (Nice catch, IOTN!)
In other words, abortion.
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