It never made any sense to start with. If a young girl had an honest relationship with and access to a physician, she’d also probably have contraception, age be damned. They don’t, so the unfettered need is there.
A federal judge ruled Friday that the government must make the most common morning-after pill available over the counter for all ages, instead of requiring a prescription for girls 16 and younger. In his ruling, he also accused the federal government of “bad faith” in dealing with the requests to make the pill universally available.
The decision, on a fraught and politically controversial subject, comes after a decade-long fight over who should have access to the pill and under what circumstances. And it counteracts an unprecedented move by the Obama administration’s Health and Human Services secretary, Kathleen Sebelius, who in 2011 overruled a recommendation by the Food and Drug Administration to make the pill available for all ages without a prescription.
In a decision in a lawsuit filed by advocates, the judge, Edward R. Korman of Federal District Court, ruled that the government’s refusal to lift restrictions on access to the pill was “arbitrary, capricious, and unreasonable.”
Judge Korman ordered the F.D.A. to lift any age and sale restrictions on the pill, Plan B One-Step, and its generic versions, within 30 days.
Igor Volsky sounds encouraged. Here’s a quick news brief, via HuffPo:
Faced with nearly 50 lawsuits by employers with religious objections, the Obama administration announced on Friday new details of the contraception coverage rule that clarify which employers will be exempt from having to cover contraception costs for their employees.
The new rules announced on Friday eliminate some confusion over which organizations qualify for the exemption by requiring employers with religious objections to self-certify that they are non-profits with religion as a core part of their mission. Religiously affiliated organizations that choose to insure themselves would instruct their “third-party administrator” to provide coverage through separate individual health insurance policies so that they do not have to pay for services to which they morally object. [...]
The courts have largely dismissed those cases because non-profits with religious objections were given a one-year grace period to comply with the birth control coverage rule. [...]
Reproductive rights advocates said on Friday that they are still pleased with the details of the contraception rule.
The Obama administration plans to announce a broader opt-out for religious nonprofits that object to providing health insurance that covers birth control, according to reports today.
The administration will allow religious nonprofits to offer coverage that does not include contraception. In such cases, a third-party issuer will handle all business related to providing birth-control coverage for women, according to a source familiar with the changes who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
“If you come down with a case of Romnesia… and you can’t remember the promises you’ve made over the SIX years you’ve been running for president, here’s the good news! Obamacare covers pre-existing conditions!”
Yes, poor Paul has been hanging around with the very infectious Willard M. Romney for far too long. Romnesia is contagious, but lucky for him, under Obamacare, inoculations are free!
FORT MYERS, Fla. — GOP vice-presidential nominee Paul Ryan on Thursday night poked fun at the Democratic argument that the GOP is waging a “war on women.”
Via HuffPo, a refresher course on that nonexistent War on Women that Ryan mocked:
In addition to passing or proposing laws that would limit abortion rights, mandate ultrasounds, allow employers to deny women birth control coverage and defund Planned Parenthood,Republicans have repeatedly come under fire during the past several months for making inflammatory comments about women’s health. Conservative radio host Rush Limbaugh called Georgetown law student Sandra Fluke a “slut” for advocating for contraception coverage, Rep. Todd Akin (R-Mo.) said victims of “legitimate rape” rarely get pregnant, and Rep. Joe Walsh (R-Ill.) said on Thursday that there should be no abortion exception for the “life of the mother” because “with modern technology and science, you can’t find one instance” in which a woman would actually die from a pregnancy.
At about 4:00, Rich Beeson, political director for Mitt Romney’s campaign, echoed Ryan on ABC7 News. According to him, women’s reproductive rights and equal pay for women are “small things” that are not important to voters.
Paul must have forgotten about his partnership with Todd “Legitimate Rape” Akin, too. Via Think Progress:
Lest there be any doubt, this bill is unconstitutional. Congress does not have the power to overrule Roe v. Wade by an ordinary statue, only a constitutional amendment could serve that purpose. [...]
[A] Blastocyst-American would not only enjoy the same constitutional status as a fully grown adult, it would also enjoy any “legal” attributes enjoyed by adults.
That legislation would “legitimize” Blasotcyst-Americans, effectively outlawing many forms of birth control as well as abortion rights.
Did I mention he voted against the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act?
Even Garry Trudeau remembered Paul Ryan’s support of “personhood”:
The trouble with Romnesia: All previous positions and flip flops have been well documented.
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Rachel does it again. Mitt Romney runs away from George W. Bush in the wrong direction(s):
“17 of the campaign’s 24 announced advisers on foreign policy are Bush foreign policy people.”
“… If you squint at Romney and Ryan on foreign policy, what you know you’re gonna get is Act Two of the Bush and Cheney foreign policy.”
Re: Romney’s on contraception: “You can see the wheels turning in [Mitt's] head. ‘Man, that sounds awful! I would never support that!.. Would I? Would I support that?’ Yes! Yes governor you would support that. This is your policy position. Your boss decides whether or not you get access to contraceptives under your health insurance.”
“What is new and weird and hard to believe and that I don’t think we have much precedent for… is a campaign and a politician that cannot be bothered to come up with real positions that the candidate believes, that the campaign admits to and that everybody at least pretends to understand.”
Hey anti-accessible-contraception, anti-choice, personhood Republicans, your message is being stepped on by the big foot of Dr. Reality.
NBC is reporting about a new study in town, and just in time for the presidential election. And that study, authored by Dr. Jeffrey Peipert, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at Washington University, says offering women free birth control can reduce unplanned pregnancies which in turn causes abortion rates to take a nose dive.
When more than 9,000 women ages 14 to 45 in the St. Louis area were given no-cost contraception for three years, abortion rates dropped from two-thirds to three-quarters lower than the national rate, according to a new report by Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis researchers.
From 2008 to 2010, annual abortion rates among participants in the Contraceptive Choice Project – dubbed CHOICE — ranged from 4.4 abortions per 1,000 women to 7.5 abortions per 1,000. That’s far less than the 19.6 abortions per 1,000 women nationwide reported in 2008, the latest year for which figures are available.
Among teen girls ages 15 to 19 who participated in the study, the annual birth rate was 6.3 per 1,000 girls, far below the U.S. rate of 34.3 per 1,000 for girls the same age.
Timing is everything:
The results were so dramatic, in fact, that Peipert pushed the journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology to publish the study before the Nov. 6 presidential election, knowing that the Affordable Care Act, and its reproductive health provisions, are major issues in the campaign.
And there are those pesky exponential benefits:
Research has also shown that neglect, stress, anxiety, or simply a low level of nurturing in early life has effects on a child that can last far into adulthood. It may influence, for example, the cycle of teen pregnancy and crime.
Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan would get rid of Planned Parenthood funding. And allow employers to deny coverage for cancer screenings and birth control. Both backed proposals to outlaw abortions…even in cases of rape and incest.
Lt. Col Barry Wingard is the lawyer for Gitmo detainee Fayiz Al-Kandari. For their ongoing story + related topics, please click on the link below: Kuwaiti Citizen Detained at Guantanamo since 2002
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