A.85 Paulin / S.892 Krueger: In relation to ‘emergency contraception’
MEMORANDUM OF OPPOSITION
The above-referenced bill would eliminate the patient-specific physician prescription requirement for the “morning-after pill” for girls under age 17, enabling them to purchase the drugs at any drugstore or obtain them from a school nurse, without any parental knowledge or doctor’s supervision.
The New York State Catholic Conference opposes this legislation.
The federal Food & Drug Administration has approved the sale of the morning-after pill “Plan B” (so-called “emergency contraception”) without a prescription in pharmacies to persons 17 years of age and older. The FDA continues to require those under age 17 to obtain a physician’s prescription to purchase the pills. In December of 2011, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius denied FDA approval to market Plan B as a non-prescription drug for girls under age 17. The Secretary noted that “there are significant cognitive and behavioral differences between older adolescent girls and the youngest girls of reproductive age.”
The legislation before you is an attempt to circumvent this federal ruling by providing girls under age 17 with easy access to Plan B. There is no age requirement in A.85/S.892, meaning it would enable girls as young as 11 or 12 years old to access these powerful drugs without parental knowledge or physician oversight. This bill would undermine parental rights and potentially put young girls at risk. As a matter of state law, many products sold by pharmacies, e.g. tobacco and non-prescription cough-cold products, are restricted to consumers 18 years of age and older.
Moreover, this legislation would mandate insurance coverage of the “morning- after pill,” whether it is provided behind-the-counter or by physician prescription. There is no religious exemption in the bill for employers who may have religious objections to financing insurance coverage of drugs they find morally objectionable.
There are grave public health consequences to easy access to these drugs for young girls. Widespread availability sends the message that unmarried sexual activity has no consequences, and encourages the behavior. The morning-after pill does not protect against sexually transmitted diseases including HIV/AIDS, and research has not proven the pill’s efficacy in lowering pregnancy or abortion rates (see Raymond, Trussell and Polis, Obstetrics & Gynecology 2007; 109:181-188). It is still unknown what high doses of the drugs may do to a woman’s future fertility or what connection they may have to cancer or other diseases.
Medical experts agree that “emergency contraception” can work in various ways. It can act to inhibit or delay ovulation, and thus prevent conception. But it can also act to prevent an already-fertilized egg from implanting in the uterine wall, destroying a developing human embryo. This is early abortion, and it is morally abhorrent to many New Yorkers. Promoting widespread access to these “morning after” pills may mislead young women into unknowingly aborting an already developing child. To misinform young women and girls into believing they are contracepting when, in fact, they may be aborting, is unconscionable. At the very least, those who purchase these pills should have the right to informed consent.
For all of the above reasons, we oppose this bill and urge that it be defeated.
