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Bill Makes Emergency Contraception Available to Minors PDF Print E-mail

One of the first bills introduced and moved in the New York State Assembly this year is an emergency contraception bill, known as the "Unintended Pregnancy Prevention Act." This legislation, A627, sponsored by Assemblywoman Paulin (D – Scarsdale), moved out of the Assembly Health Committee the first week the committee met.

The intent of this bill is to make emergency contraception more readily available for women when they have had unprotected sex.

The Food and Drug Administration has only approved over-the-counter emergency contraception for women age eighteen and older, but this bill would allow non-prescription sales of orally ingested emergency contraceptives to those less than eighteen years of age. The bill also makes provision for insurance coverage of non-prescription emergency contraceptives, if prescription contraceptives are currently covered.

Emergency contraception (sometimes called EC, Plan B or the "morning after" pill) is an oral contraceptive designed to be taken up to five days after unprotected sexual intercourse. It is considered most effective if taken within the first 72 hours after intercourse. There is vigorous debate as to whether or not these contraceptives can cause an abortion. Many in the pro-life community feel that this form of contraception may induce abortions by creating conditions in a woman’s body that does not permit a fertilized egg to implant in the mother’s womb. Pro-lifers reason that if life begins at conception, but the mother takes a synthetic hormone that prohibits the fertilized egg’s ability to implant, then she is indeed inducing an abortion by ending the life of her less than five-day-old baby. Many reproductive rights advocates insist that EC cannot cause an abortion because they do not believe that pregnancy begins with fertilization, but only with the implantation of the fertilized egg (zygote). They reason that if the zygote has not yet implanted, then there is no pregnancy and hence an abortion is not possible.

The driving forces for this legislation are:

  • Under current law, if a woman has unprotected sex she must get a prescription from her physician to obtain emergency contraception. This may be a cumbersome and difficult situation on weekends and holidays when doctors are not readily available.
  • Currently EC is only available to women 18 years and older. The sponsor feels women of any age should be allowed to get EC whenever they want it. The legislation requires no parental consent or prenotification for children less than 18 years of age acquiring EC.
  • Additionally the sponsor is concerned that current law requires a patient to provide a government issued identification document. The sponsor feels this might present a problem for some women, and this legislation would eliminate the identification requirements.
The bill adds midwives to the persons licensed to issue a non-patient specific regimen (which is a prescription without a patient’s name on it). Currently, only a physician or a nurse practitioner can write this type of prescription. This legislation will allow all three to issue non-patient specific regimes for EC. A female who has unprotected sex would be able get a prescription without any name on the prescription and take it to a pharmacy and acquire the EC, without ID, at any age. Conservatives are concerned that there is no restriction in the legislation that requires EC to be given only to a female. The fear is that a boyfriend or an older male could get the EC and slip it to his partner unbeknownst to her, possibly covering up statutory rape.

This legislation has a companion bill in the New York State Senate. S1410 is being carried by Senator Schneiderman (D – New York City). The Senate version awaits action in the Senate Higher Education Committee. The New York State Assembly Health Committee passed A627 by a vote of 21 to 4, and it awaits action in the Assembly Ways and Means Committee.

Last Updated ( Wednesday, 11 March 2009 )