Patty Murray is introducing legislation to provide increased access to and education about emergency contraception.
When women are not given full counseling about — and access to — emergency contraception, a major health decision is taken out of their hands. Every year, over three million pregnancies (one half of all pregnancies in the United States) are unintended. In the 1960s, researchers began testing the effectiveness of concentrated, high doses of oral estrogen to prevent unintended pregnancy. In 1973, putting science and medical evidence first, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved this form of contraception only as an emergency measure. In the time since (and not without significant resistance from critics), the FDA has declared emergency contraception, a.k.a. the morning-after pill, to be safe and effective in preventing unintended pregnancy after unprotected sex, birth control failure, or sexual assault. In addition, the FDA has approved the sale of some forms of this pill to women of all ages — over the counter, without prescription.
However, despite this increased access — and the number of options now available to women — emergency contraceptive use in the United States remains low. In fact, only half of OB/GYNs offer emergency contraception to all of their patients, and one third of reproductive-age women don’t know it exists.
Well, that’s a problem. I mean fortunately this is such a no-brainer that I’m sure it will sail right through our responsive democratic process. Surely, right. Right?
What is th big deal about abortion and birth control methods? We’ve got a big enough gene pool now that will last until the sun finally runs out of fuel, expands, and eventually consumes the earth.
I never did get the anti-birth control crowd or the folks who violently oppose abortion.
@1 More population = cheaper labor
“Right-wing Ideology in a Nutsell
“When you cut right through it, right-wing ideology is just ‘dime-store economics’ – intended to dress their ideology up and make it look respectable. You don’t really need to know much about economics to understand it. They certainly don’t. It all gets down to two simple words. ‘Cheap labor’. That’s their whole philosophy in a nutshell ….
“You see, cheap-labor conservatives are defenders of corporate America – whose fortunes depend on labor. The larger the labor supply, the cheaper it is. The more desperately you need a job, the cheaper you’ll work, and the more power those ‘corporate lords’ have over you. If you are a wealthy elite – or a ‘wannabe’ like most dittoheads – your wealth, power and privilege is enhanced by a labor pool, forced to work cheap. Don’t believe me. Well, let’s apply this principle, and see how many right-wing positions become instantly understandable. …
“Cheap-labor conservatives oppose a woman’s right to choose. Why. Unwanted children are an economic burden that put poor women ‘over a barrel’, forcing them to work cheap. …”
http://conceptualguerilla.com/.....e-minutes/
Roger Rabbit Commentary: Do you ‘get it’ now?
Women who control their reproductive systems often end up having control of other things in their life too.
That’s why conservatives hate birth control.
@2,
Too simple an explanation, Roger. People are not getting abortions and not using birth control for a variety of reasons. Thus, many are setting themselves up for a life of poverty by having out-of-wedlock births and children the cannot afford.
Libertarian comment: with all the birth control out there, there is no excuse for having children one cannot afford. It’s an issue of personal responsibility as much as anything else.
Libertarian: you underestimate the subtle and not-so-subtle pressures on women to have children, whether they can afford them or even want them. I work with a lot indigent clients whose view of the world doesn’t even reach the limits of their zip code. They don’t see any prospects for themselves other than their immediate surroundings.
Considering the number of hospitals nationwide that are being bought by Catholic healthcare corporations, it’s not surprising that “hospitals” don’t always offer morning-after pills. Murray must know that, and she undoubtedly knows — due to the experience of the fights over the ACA — that getting congressional legislation or a Supreme Court decision to force hospitals to offer morning-after pills is hopeless.