The New York Times – Albany Legislators Back Giving Morning-After Pill
The Buffalo News - 'Morning after' pill passes Legislature
The New York Daily News - Pill Bill Heads to Gov
Newsday - Making Plan B easier to get
The Times-Union – Senate Backs Measure on ‘morning-after pill’
WNYC – State Makes Morning-After Pill Widely Available
NARAL Pro-Choice New York Press Release
June 22, 2005
STATE SENATE PASSES BILL THAT WILL
REDUCE UNINTENDED PREGNANCY IN NEW YORK
Albany – Today the New York State Senate will pass S. 3661, Spano, “The Unintended Pregnancy Prevention Act”. This critical legislation allows a woman to go directly to a trained pharmacist or nurse to obtain emergency contraception (EC). As the Bush Administration continues to hold up over-the-counter approval of EC, the women of New York can now avoid unnecessary delays in obtaining this back-up form of birth control.
Kelli Conlin, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice New York said, “Today, science triumphed over politics. The state legislature granted the women of New York greater access to birth control and gave them a second chance to prevent unintended pregnancy. Let today’s vote be a call to the FDA and the Bush Administration to look past partisan politics and remove roadblocks to over-the-counter approval of emergency contraception. The time has come.”
Echoing the support of the State Assembly earlier this year, State Senators from both sides of the aisle came together to pass this bill. NARAL Pro-Choice New York applauds Senator Nicholas Spano (R) and Assemblyperson Amy Paulin (D) for sponsoring the bill and Senate Majority Leader Joe Bruno (R) and Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver (D) for their leadership.
The bill now heads to Governor George Pataki’s desk for signature. The Governor has pledged past support for laws that improve women’s health and should sign the legislation.
This bill was the result of three years of work by NARAL Pro-Choice New York and over 100 coalition partners in the Emergency Contraception Access Campaign.
Emergency contraception, also known as the “morning-after pill,” is a back-up birth control method used to prevent unintended pregnancy when a woman has unprotected sex, including when birth control fails or in cases of sexual assault. It is also known by its brand name, Plan B. EC is a higher dosage of regular birth control pills that must be taken within 120 hours to be effective, and are seven times more effective when used with 24 hours.
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