New, Improved Contraception Bill
Freedom of conscience respected this time
February 22, 2006
Editorial- Rocky Mountain News The difference between this year's and last year's emergency contraception bill in the legislature is the difference between respecting freedom of conscience and riding roughshod over it.
This year's bill respects individual conscience. That's why it's constitutional and why we support it. Emergency contraception is essentially a large dose of birth-control pills that prevents most pregnancies if taken within days of unprotected sexual intercourse - five days at the most, but it is most effective in the first 12 to 24 hours. House Bill 1212, sponsored by Rep. Betty Boyd, D-Lakewood, would allow pharmacists to prescribe it directly, so the woman does not have to take the time to get a prescription from a doctor. Boyd's previous bills would have required hospitals to inform victims of sexual assault about the availability of emergency contraception. Twice they died in committee, and last year the bill passed only to be vetoed by the governor. We supported the veto because the mandate violated the freedom of conscience of pharmacists, doctors and hospital personnel who have moral or religious objections to emergency contraception. One need not agree with them to defend their right not to be compelled to advise women to take actions they believe to be wrong. Nothing in this year's bill would require anyone with moral objections to the process to participate. If a pharmacist is reluctant to dispense the medication, that may be a problem for an employer, but no more or less than if a doctor prescribed it. There really hasn't been a precedent for pharmacists to prescribe drugs, but this is a special case in many ways. For one thing, the "Plan B" that is the only form of emergency contraception currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration is well along the regulatory road toward becoming an over-the- counter product. The delays in Washington are primarily procedural, not medical. Once prescriptions are no longer needed, authority to write them won't be needed, either. When prompt action is important, 24-hour pharmacies are easier to find than 24-hour doctors' offices, and some women who would go to a pharmacy might be put off by the prospect of a weekend visit to a hospital emergency room and decide to take their chances. And among the unlucky ones who lose that bet, some will have abortions. Preventing those pregnancies is the real reason for HB 1212.
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