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Morning-after contraceptive bill passes Assembly Madison - The state Assembly late Thursday narrowly passed a bill that would prohibit University of Wisconsin System health clinics from advertising, prescribing or dispensing the morning-after pill to students. The Assembly approved the measure with a 49-41 vote. One member didn't vote on the bill or indicate a preference, while another eight indicated their preference; they split 4-4. The Assembly vote sent the bill to the Senate. Even if it passes there, it's not likely to become law. Gov. Jim Doyle said Thursday that he would veto the emergency contraception bill if it reaches...

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...

Pharmacists in Australia opposed to selling the "morning-after pill" without a prescription are refusing to do so -- and some say they will also refuse to follow a requirement to refer the customers to other suppliers. Manufacturers of the morning-after pill -- formally known as the "emergency contraceptive pill" -- say it has a 95 percent success rate in preventing pregnancy if taken within 24 hours of sexual intercourse, and slightly less so if taken within 72 hours. Although many health bodies have declared it safe, some medical practitioners are concerned about potential health risks, while pro-lifers say it acts...

<p>The recommendation of Food and Drug Administration (FDA) advisory panels this month to allow the morning-after pill to be sold over the counter is not supported by medical facts and may very well bring about devastating consequences. Granting the morning-after pill over-the-counter status will lead women and young girls to think the drug poses no greater threat than other medicines available without a prescription. But the morning-after pill is not "just another contraceptive," and even a passing glance at the facts is sufficient to prove it does not belong on the same shelf as Tylenol and baby aspirin.</p>

THAT'S LIFE Poison Pills by Michelle Cottle Potentially huge news for women this week: On Tuesday, an FDA advisory panel voted 23 to 4 to recommend permitting over-the-counter sales of the emergency contraceptive commonly known as the morning-after pill. Available by prescription since 1999, Plan B, as the pill is also known, delays ovulation and/or prevents fertilization of an egg if taken up to 72 hours after sexual intercourse. The earlier the pill is taken, the greater its efficacy. If the FDA follows the panel's recommendation--which it typically does--soon women will be able, for about $30 a pop, to obtain...

STANEK: FDA poised to approve pedophile thrill pill Thursday, December 18, 2003 By Jill Stanek (Jill@illinoisleader.com) OPINION -- Tuesday an FDA joint committee recommended that Plan B, an emergency contraceptive, be approved for sale without prescription. The final FDA decision is expected in February. I attended the committee meeting to testify in opposition and spent six hours listening in disbelief. To put it bluntly, I never cease to be amazed at the stupidity of smart people, although the Bible often notes this phenomenon. There is no other way to explain the support most doctors and pharmacists on the committee gave...

WASHINGTON — Medical and women's groups are asking the government to allow a morning-after pill to sell without a prescription, saying easier access could prevent more than a million unplanned pregnancies and hundreds of thousands of abortions every year. If fertilization already has occurred, it prevents the egg from implanting into the uterus, the medical definition of pregnancy. If a woman already had become pregnant, emergency contraception would have no effect. So it hasn't proved nearly as contentious as RU-486, the abortion pill.

Two panels for the Food and Drug Administration will consider early next week whether to allow the so-called morning-after pill, now a prescription drug taken after intercourse to prevent pregnancy, to be sold over the counter. But unlike other more ordinary hearings for drugs like allergy medications to be shifted from prescriptions, this hearing has become entangled in the thorny politics of abortion, raising questions of when a pregnancy begins and who decides. If approved, the drug would be the first emergency contraceptive sold over the counter. Known as Plan B — when Plan A, for contraception, fails or is...

PROPONENTS SAY such a move would greatly increase women’s ability to get the pills in time to prevent pregnancy: preferably within 24 hours but no more than 72 hours after rape, contraceptive failure or just forgetting birth control. The Food and Drug Administration says emergency contraception is very safe to use, but the question is whether women will understand exactly how and when to take it without any professional advice. Indeed, the morning-after pill marks the first in a series of ever more complex over-the-counter switch decisions facing the FDA. Next year, the agency will be asked to allow nonprescription...

Pro-abort groups accused of agenda "to change the definition of when life begins"ALBANY, N.Y., October 1, 2003 (LifeSiteNews.com) - New York State is going ahead with plans to force Catholic hospitals to provide the abortifacient "morning after pill" (MAP) to rape victims. Destiny Lopez, who lobbied on behalf of the National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League, said in a news release that her opponents had framed the debate as an abortion issue, "but it's not, it's a crime victims' issue,' leaving pro-lifers wondering why NARAL is so interested if that is the case. The Catholic hospitals of New York...

Young women are in trouble again. After being admonished several months ago for not having enough babies, now the focus has been placed on young women behaving badly. Apparently we're having more sex and engaging in more hedonistic behaviour. This conservative attitude has found a new outlet; the legislation that will, it is hoped, make the morning-after pill, Postinor-2, available over the counter. But what are the facts? Why is it so important to make access to Postinor-2 easier for women of all ages? And why has this debate had a disturbing subtext of moral judgement about women's sexuality? This...

Miranda Devine writes: Not enough is known about how the morning-after pill works for it to be made so easily available. IT IS shocking that Australia has the second highest abortion rate in the developed world, more than triple the rate for the Netherlands. Each year about 90,000 Australian foetuses or embryos are destroyed, mostly on the Medicare tab. One in three women worldwide will have an abortion at some stage in her life, according to Terri Foran, medical director of FPA Health NSW (formerly Family Planning). And for many women, the emotional aftermath is never as free from remorse...

‘The Real Deal’ on the morning-after pill Passing laws that encourage reckless behavior COMMENTARYby Joe Scarborough May 22 — It was only a matter of time. The morning-after pill is soon to be sold over the counter in New Mexico. Other states are sure to follow suit. But how exactly did this contraceptive go from being a last resort for rape and incest victims, to being yet another excuse not to practice safe sex? If you want to know the answer, here’s ‘The Real Deal.’        THE SEXUAL REVOLUTION streaked onto the center stage of American culture...

Yes Virginia, at least for the moment, you have access to contraception. Virginia State Delegate Robert Marshall (R-13th) has ignited a firestorm on college campuses in the Old Dominion by advocating that the dispensing of emergency contraception, a.k.a. morning after pills, violated Virginia's 24-hour waiting period for abortion services. Thankfully, the Virginia Attorney General's Office intervened with a letter advising that Marshall's opinion was not based in law, but this dispute yet again identifies that leading opponents of reproductive rights seek not only to regulate abortions, but to also prevent access to contraception. This year, Marshall's crusade against reproductive rights...

For years, public health advocates were frustrated that most women did not know about a drug that could prevent pregnancy even if taken several days after sex. Its potential to reduce the abortion rate was enormous, and opponents of abortion generally did not oppose it. But that potential was unrealized, largely because the two companies distributing the drug in this country were so tiny that they could barely afford advertising. People who did know about it often confused it with RU-486, the abortion pill. But in the last year, so-called emergency contraception has started to come out of the shadows....

HARRISONBURG, Va. -- In response to a complaint from a state legislator, James Madison University will stop providing "morning after" birth-control pills at its campus health center. The state-supported college's board of visitors voted Friday to stop dispensing the emergency contraception pill after receiving a letter from Del. Robert Marshall, R-Manassas, criticizing the practice.