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REPRODUCTIVE RIGHTS

The federal government has failed the women of this country, putting politics over science at the FDA and appointing a Supreme Court poised to overturn Roe v. Wade. Reproductive justice now falls to state legislatures more than ever before. In Annapolis, I will take the lead to protect reproductive rights in Maryland --

I serve on the Board of Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington (PPMW). PPMW works to keep abortion safe, legal, and rare, and to ensure that every child is wanted, nurtured, and loved. Our mission is to provide quality, affordable reproductive health care; to promote education programs that empower all individuals to make informed and responsible reproductive choices; and to protect the right to make those choices.

Maryland must adequately fund family planning services for all who need it.

Family planning enables responsible decision-making and creates healthy families. The best way to prevent unintended pregnancies and reduce the number of abortions is to make sure women, couples, and teens have information about and access to birth control.

Family planning services should be part of basic health care. The decision when to parent (or not to parent) is a quality-of-life issue. Most important, the ability to control one’s own fertility is a fundamental human right. Decisions about childbearing should be made by a woman, in consultation with her family, her doctor, and her conscience, not by the government or by politicians.

The best way to reduce abortion is to expand access to contraception, but anti-choice extremists want to deny women the full range of birth control options. They oppose abortion, AND they oppose contraception! They don’t trust us to know what’s best for ourselves and our families, or they don’t care what’s best for us and our families.

Increase access to Emergency Contraception (EC).

EC (currently marketed as “Plan B”) comprises two, high-dosage birth control pills that can be taken up to 72 hours after sexual intercourse to prevent pregnancy. Studies have shown that EC is safe and effective, and that it does not cause an abortion in an established pregnancy. EC has been safely used around the world for almost 30 years, and Plan B has been approved by the FDA for use in the United States by prescription for women and girls of all ages since 1999. The American Medical Association, the American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, and the American Academy of Pediatrics, as well as some 70 other medical and public health organizations, support enabling pharmacists to dispense EC without a doctor’s prescription. Despite the scientific and medical support, the FDA refused to allow Plan B to be sold over the counter, until it finally approved limited access last year.

The Maryland General Assembly had the opportunity to reduce abortion and increase women’s access to health care in 2006. Bills introduced in both the Senate and the House (SB 297 and HB 828) in 2006 would have allowed pharmacists to dispense EC in Maryland without a prescription even before the FDA action, so that women and girls without the opportunity or means to see a doctor immediately after contraceptive failure or rape could prevent pregnancy.

I founded and co-chaired the Maryland Coalition for Emergency Contraception to generate grassroots support for EC legislation. Supporters worked especially hard and we succeeded in uniting health care and reproductive rights organizations and individual supporters around the state. We missed our goal by one vote in the Senate in 2006, but we were ready for the next time if that had been necessary.

Eight states and 40 countries offer EC without a prescription.

Pharmacist refusals to fill prescriptions based on personal beliefs have no place in modern health care.

Even if you have a prescription from your doctor for contraception, you may have trouble finding a pharmacy that will fill it!

Pharmacists must abide by state law. Most states that provide general guidance about when pharmacists may refuse to fill prescriptions limit the reasons to professional or medical considerations – potentially harmful contraindications, interactions with other drugs, improper dosage, and suspected drug abuse or misuse – as opposed to person, moral, or religious judgments.

Some states, including Maryland, allow doctors and other direct providers of health care to refuse to perform or assist in an abortion and allow hospitals to refuse to allow abortion on their premises. Now, pharmacists in some states are refusing to fill prescriptions for EC and other contraception, based on the premise that dispensing those medications would violate their conscience.

Current Maryland law allows a pharmacist to refuse to fill a prescription ONLY if the refusal is based on professional judgment, experience, knowledge, or available reference materials. I will provide forceful, consistent leadership in the General Assembly and fight efforts to dillute this protection!