A bill that would allow pharmacists to prescribe the morning-after pill to women who want to avoid pregnancy gets its first committee hearing today.
The bill, House Bill 1212, is Rep. Betty Boyd’s latest foray into the controversial subject of emergency contraception. Last year, the legislature passed a bill sponsored by Boyd, D-Lakewood, that would have required hospitals to tell rape victims about emergency contraception.
Gov. Bill Owens vetoed that bill and vowed to veto any similar one, which is why Boyd said she changed the tack of this bill.
“There are no mandates in the bill,” Boyd said. “It’s permissive. It allows pharmacists to do something they haven’t been able to do before.”
Under House Bill 1212, pharmacists would be able to prescribe and sell the morning-after pill. Pharmacists with a moral objection can choose not to prescribe the pill. It would be the first time pharmacists in Colorado would have the authority to prescribe medication.
The topic generates so much controversy, in part, because those on either side of the issue don’t agree on what the morning-after pill does. Proponents say it stops a fertilized egg from implanting, thus preventing pregnancy, not ending it. Opponents say the pill has the same effect as an abortion.
At least so far, the bill hasn’t generated the heated squabbling of last year’s bill.
Timothy Dore, the executive director of the Colorado Catholic Conference, which fiercely opposed last year’s bill, said his group hasn’t taken a position on this one. Owens had yet to take a stance on the bill, said spokesman Dan Hopkins.
The anti-abortion Colorado Right to Life Committee has said it opposes the bill because “emergency contraception can cause the death of a newly created human being,” according to a statement put out by the group.
Rep. Kevin Lundberg, R-Berthoud, said he opposes the bill because he considers the drug more abortive than contraceptive.
“It’s a bill that has some troubling parts to it,” he said. “The concerns I have is it’s going into a whole new arena for authority for pharmacists. … It circumvents a doctor’s oversight into a prescription drug.”
Boyd said the pills, currently sold under the brand name Plan B, are safe, and the bill would limit pharmacists to prescribing just these pills.
Staff writer John Ingold can be reached at 720-929-0898 or jingold@denverpost.com.
