{"id":7140,"date":"2006-04-14T10:40:27","date_gmt":"2006-04-14T14:40:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.thecarpetbaggerreport.com\/?p=7140"},"modified":"2006-04-14T10:40:27","modified_gmt":"2006-04-14T14:40:27","slug":"plan-b-needs-a-plan-c-in-colorado","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/plan-b-needs-a-plan-c-in-colorado\/","title":{"rendered":"Plan B needs a Plan C in Colorado"},"content":{"rendered":"

Colorado’s legislature, for the second time in as many years, approved legislation that would make it easier for women to obtain emergency contraception without a prescription. And, just like last year, Republican Gov. [tag]Bill Owens[\/tag] vetoed it<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Gov. Bill Owens on Thursday vetoed a bill that would have made it easier for women to get [tag]emergency contraception[\/tag]. The rejection of House Bill 1212 is the second time in two years Owens has disappointed women’s health groups and elated abortion foes.<\/p>\n

This year’s bill would have given pharmacists an unprecedented power in Colorado – the ability to dispense medication without a physician’s prescription.<\/p>\n

In his veto message, Owens said the bill “strays radically from the accepted norms of medicine” by shifting prescribing power to pharmacists.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

First, Owens also believes that pharmacists should be able to refuse prescriptions for medication they find morally offensive. If he’s really concerned about “the accepted norms of medicine,” he may want to give this policy a second look.<\/p>\n

Second, this has nothing to do with “shifting prescribing power to pharmacists.” The pharmacists wouldn’t be “prescribing” anything; the legislation, which passed with bi-partisan support, would simply make [tag]Plan B[\/tag] medication available over the counter. The only people empowered by the vetoed bill are women who want to prevent an unplanned pregnancy. It’s part of why the state legislation was endorsed by the [tag]Colorado[\/tag] Medical Society, the Colorado Gynecological and Obstetrical Society, and the Colorado Pharmacists Society, in addition to women’s groups everywhere.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, none of the arguments against Plan B make any sense. Conservatives argue the medication may not be safe, but the FDA called it the “safest drug that we have seen brought before us.” Conservatives suggest the emergency contraception causes abortion, but it actually prevents sperm from fertilizing an egg or blocks a fertilized egg from implanting in a uterus.<\/p>\n

Plan B would curtail the number of abortions and prevent unwanted pregnancies. If right-wing politicians like Owens have a reasonable explanation for their opposition, they’ve hidden it well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Colorado’s legislature, for the second time in as many years, approved legislation that would make it easier for women to obtain emergency contraception without a prescription. And, just like last year, Republican Gov. [tag]Bill Owens[\/tag] vetoed it. Gov. Bill Owens on Thursday vetoed a bill that would have made it easier for women to get […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[617],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7140","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7140"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7140\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stevebenen.com\/thecarpetbaggerreport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}