The Religious Consultation
|
|
The New York Times, June 23, 2005 Bill Allows Sales
of Pill Over Counter The Republican-led State Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that would allow pharmacists and nurses to dispense the so-called morning-after pill, which can prevent pregnancy after sex, to women who do not have prescriptions. Since the Democratic-led State Assembly has already passed the bill, it will now be sent to Gov. George E. Pataki, who will have to decide whether to sign it. Seven other states have similar laws. Governor Pataki, a Republican who is planning to decide soon whether to seek a fourth term or explore a run for president, was noncommittal on whether he would sign the bill, saying only that he would take a look at it. The pill, which has been shown effective at preventing pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, has been at the center of a heated national debate. It is classified as a contraceptive and acts in most cases by preventing ovulation or fertilization. Because it may also prevent a fertilized egg from becoming implanted in the uterus, it has also become a flashpoint in the debate over abortion. The federal Food and Drug Administration has declined to allow the pill to be sold over the counter, even though two of its advisory committees voted in 2003 that it should be. In Illinois, after some pharmacists balked at dispensing the pills to women with prescriptions, Gov. Rod R. Blagojevich issued an order requiring them to. The fact that New York's State Senate passed the bill took some advocates and opponents of the measure by surprise. Republican senators opposed the bill by more than two to one, but it had the support of almost all the Senate's Democrats, and it passed -- 34 to 27, according to officials -- after a pointed and sometimes emotional debate. The bill, which had been championed by Senate Democrats for years, was pushed this year by Senator Nicholas A. Spano, a liberal Republican from an increasingly Democratic district in Westchester who was re-elected in November by only 18 votes. The bill would allow pharmacists and registered nurses who choose to participate to obtain blanket prescriptions from doctors, naming no individual patient, for the morning-after pill. The pharmacists and nurses could then dispense the pills to women and girls of any age. Proponents say the measure will help women get the pill early enough to be effective on weekends, when seeing a doctor can be difficult. Senator Spano, who argued on the floor that the bill would reduce unwanted pregnancies and therefore abortions, said afterward that it was ''the most difficult and controversial bill'' that he had sponsored in his 27 years as a legislator. The debate ranged from the theological to the political, as lawmakers cited the position of Pope Benedict XVI and disagreed over whether the pill was a contraceptive or caused abortion. Joseph L. Bruno, the Senate majority leader, broke ranks with his party to support the measure. On the Senate floor, where most bills pass with little debate, Senator Bruno said that he was proud to support the bill, and that others might disagree but they should not cast moral judgment. ''I would not be judging others for having feelings, when they become convinced that we are doing the right thing to avoid unwanted pregnancies,'' he said, staring directly at members of his own party who had already spoken against the bill. Senator Hugh T. Farley, an upstate Republican who opposed the bill, said: ''I think it promotes unprotected sex. It's a bad way to go.'' And Senator James L. Seward, another upstate Republican, said, ''I think that's a decision for the F.D.A., not the New York State Senate.'' Among the Democrats speaking for the measure, Senator David A. Paterson, the minority leader, took issue with the contention that the pill causes abortion. ''It is preventative, which is why it is a contraceptive,'' he said. Advocates and opponents said they believed the bill had been allowed to come to a vote to help Senator Spano hold onto his seat in Westchester, and, by extension, help the Republicans retain to their dwindling control of the Senate. They have 35 of the Senate's 62 seats. Kelli Conlin, executive director of Naral Pro-Choice New York, an abortion rights advocacy group, said her organization had worked hard to get Senator Spano re-elected. ''We have never worked so hard to bring our political influence to bear,'' she said, adding, ''This sends a clarion call to the Bush administration and the F.D.A. that New York State will not tolerate rigid ideology trumping good science and good health policy for women.'' Opponents were caught off guard by the support for the bill, thinking as late as Wednesday morning that it might not pass. Kathleen M. Gallagher, the director of anti-abortion activities for the New York State Catholic Conference, said she was disappointed but vowed to fight to prevent the bill from becoming law. ''We have a network of Catholics throughout the state which we are going to mobilize to contact the governor to veto the bill,'' she said. The bill puts Governor Pataki in a tough position.
Although he has supported abortion rights as
well as past efforts to make this pill more
easily available to rape victims, it will land
on his desk just as he is considering his political
future. If he decides to run for a fourth term
as governor, lawmakers said, signing the bill
could help him politically. If he runs for
president, it could help his conservative critics.
|