Lawmakers to Tackle Contraception Bill, See Better Odds for Passage
By Cyndi Roy for the State House News Service
       Legislation requiring broader, immediate access to emergency contraception may have an easier time finding its way to the House floor this year under new leadership that has signaled a willingness to debate divisive issues, the bill’s proponents say.
       The legislation would allow specially trained pharmacists to dispense the “morning after” pill - essentially a higher dosage of birth control hormones - to any woman without a prescription. The pill prevents a woman from becoming pregnant by inhibiting ovulation, fertilization, or implantation. The bills also require hospitals to provide information and the morning-after pill to victims of sexual assault.
       “This is the equivalent of the pill or condom usage,” said Rep. Peter Koutoujian (D-Newton), co-chairman of the Joint Committee on Public Health. “It prevents a woman who has been raped from becoming pregnant. This is contraception, not abortion.”
       The committee has chosen to make the policy proposal the first it formally reviews this legislative session. A public hearing on emergency contraception bills is scheduled for next Wednesday.
       The bill’s opponents say the pill can act as an abortifacient and argue doctors, not legislators, should mandate the type of care patients receive. Catholic hospitals do not generally dispense contraception to women. They do provide emergency contraception to sexual assault victims, however, whose pregnancy tests come back negative but who may become pregnant, according to Maria Parker, associate director of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference.
       “This bill is part of a national strategy to force Catholic hospitals to dispense medicine that in all cases is in opposition to our tenets,” Parker said. “This bill is anti-women.”
       The Food and Drug Administration has approved so-called EC as a contraceptive method for use after sexual intercourse when more traditional methods have failed, or when no protection is used. The pill is most effective within 24 hours after unprotected sex but can be used up to five days after.
       If approved, the legislation would allow pharmacists to participate in a physician-developed emergency contraception training program that includes quality assurance, referral to additional services, and documentation. The program would be regulated by the Department of Public Health. Citing concern about teenagers’ use of the drug, the FDA rejected a proposal last year that is similar to the bills pending in the Legislature
and would have provided the pill over the counter nationwide.
       Almost half of pregnancies in the United States are unintended, according to the Massachusetts Coalition for Choice. Of those, half end in abortion.Supporters say the recent shakeup in House leadership bodes well for the bills (H 1643 & S 1319), sponsored by Rep. Douglas Petersen (D-Marblehead) and Sen. Pamela Resor (D-Acton).
       While the Senate approved the proposal on a voice vote last year, the House
under former Speaker Thomas Finneran never brought it to the floor for debate. In June 2004, more than 60 House members signed a letter urging the speaker to allow the bill to be taken up. But Finneran, conservative on many social issues, declined, saying the budget and other major pieces of legislation were more pressing.
       New Speaker Salvatore DiMasi has been more receptive, supporters say. “Several representatives that support this are in chairmanships and others are in leadership,” said Sen. Susan Fargo (D-Lincoln), co-chairwoman of the Legislature’s Public Health Committee. “And the opponents are no longer in the House.”
       If approved, Massachusetts would join a handful of other states, including
Alaska, California, Hawaii, Maine, New Mexico, and Washington, in supporting the measure, according to Melissa Kogut, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts, which supports the bill.
       The legislation also has the backing of the Massachusetts Medical Society,
Massachusetts Public Health Association, Massachusetts Board of Registration in Pharmacy, and women’s rights groups.
       The Committee on Public Health will conduct a public hearing on the bill
April 13 at 10 am in Room B-2.