Al Franken Pushes Military To Offer Emergency Contraception To Soldiers Abroad

[mucifer]

By Megan Carpentier

Al Franken, hot on the heels of his legislative victory to give female military contractors access to the criminal justice system if they are sexually assaulted abroad, turned his eyes this week to the female soldiers who face spotty contraception access and assaults of their own. Franken and Maine Senator Olympia Snowe introduced the Compassionate Care For Servicewomen Act to give servicewomen access to emergency contraception at all military bases--including those that are overseas.

The bill would require that all military pharmacies stock emergency contraception and offer it to servicewomen without a prescription, as the Food and Drug Administration currently allows civilian woman to obtain it. Currently, servicewomen face spotty access to emergency contraception coverage, particularly in facilities abroad, even as they were recently threatened with court martials if their primary contraception failed, if they were sexually assaulted or if they simply failed to use contraception and then became pregnant. Military facilities are not allowed to provide abortion services under federal laws covering Medicaid and Medicare recipients, soldiers and federal employees.

In 2002, the Bush Administration interfered in a Pentagon effort to add emergency contraception to its Basic Formulary, which would have required that all military medical facilities keep it in stock. Plan B was initially approved for sale in 1999 with a prescription, and its manufacturer fought for nearly the entire Bush Administration to get approval to sell it over-the-counter. The Bush Administration's foot- and knuckle-dragging over the issue was spurred on by religious conservatives that oppose all birth control--and Plan B in particular-- as "abortifacients" and a federal judge ruled last year that the Administration's decisions on Plan B were strictly political and not based on sound science.

Like Franken's anti-rape bill, his pro-contraception bill will likely be considered as an amendment to the defense authorization bill, rather than as a separate piece of legislation. It currently has 11 other co-sponsors: Olympia Snowe is the only Republican.

http://airamerica.com/politics/01-11-2010/franken-pushes-military-offer-plan-b-soldiers/

[katandmoon]

1. GO AL!

[mopinko]

2. what fucking century is this?

:wtf:

go al.

[gratuitous]

3. Let's get this passed

And why does it take some freshman junior Senator to introduce these measures? Where are all the champions of women's rights who have been serving for years?

[mucifer]

5. I peaked around on the internets and found out this was originally introduced in 2007 by several

congresspeople:

110th CONGRESS

1st Session

H. R. 2064

To amend title 10, United States Code, to require emergency contraception to be available at all military health care treatment facilities.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

April 26, 2007

Mr. MICHAUD (for himself, Mr. RYAN of Ohio, Mrs. DAVIS of California, Ms. HARMAN, Ms. LORETTA SANCHEZ of California, and Mr. SHAYS) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Armed Services

To amend title 10, United States Code, to require emergency contraception to be available at all military health care treatment facilities.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Compassionate Care for Servicewomen Act'.

SEC. 2. REQUIREMENT TO MAKE AVAILABLE EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION AT ALL MILITARY HEALTH CARE TREATMENT FACILITIES.

Section 1074g(a) of title 10, United States Code, is amended by adding at the end the following new paragraph:

(9)(A) Emergency contraception shall be included on the basic core formulary of the uniform formulary, notwithstanding any provision of law or regulation requiring that only drugs ordered or prescribed by a physician (or other authorized provider) may be included in the uniform formulary.

(B) Nothing in subparagraph (A) may be construed to require emergency contraception to be covered under the pharmacy benefits program.

(C) Notwithstanding paragraph (4), prior authorization shall not be required for emergency contraception. Nothing in the preceding sentence may be construed as waiving any provision of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 301 et seq.) or any other provision of law administered by the Food and Drug Administration, including rules and orders of such Administration in effect at any time under such Act or other provisions of law.

(D) In this paragraph, the term `emergency contraception' means a drug, drug regimen, or device that is--

(i) approved by the Food and Drug Administration to prevent pregnancy; and

(ii) used postcoitally.'.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=h110-2064







I think congress is wisely using Franken for his star power and Snowe because she is a republican to introduce this in the current congress. It failed when the crazier people were in charge. I think it will pass now.

[Vidar]

4. Bravo Al!

[blondeatlast]

6. I remember when Franken was "too DLC" for a lot of DU. I somehow knew that

wasn';t the case.

He's got courage and conviction and knows how to accomplish his goals. I'm damn glad he's on our side.

[mucifer]

7. kick

[Kber]

8. You'd think he had daughters or something.

He's turning out to be a real friend to women.

[Union Yes]

9. Franken/Dean 2012! knr nt.

[EmeraldCityGrl]

10. I love this man!

:thumbsup:

[Odin2005]

11. GO AL!

:yourock:

[Shallah Kali]

12. S.2904 & H.R.4386 - please contact your elected officials to support these bills

S 2904
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:S2904:

House bill HR 4386
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d111:HR04386:

[onestepforward]

13. Al is one of the finest!

Thanks Al!

[Solly Mack]

14. Yes!!!!!