Pentagon to stock health facilities with morning-after pill

[Pirate Smile]

Source: Washington Post

he Department of Defense will begin making the morning-after pill Plan B available at all of its hospitals and health clinics around the world, officials announced Thursday.

The decision came after a recommendation by the Pentagon's Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee, an advisory panel that voted in November to include Plan B and the generic Next Choice on the list of drugs all military facilities should stock. The Pentagon accepted the recommendation Feb. 3, a spokeswoman said.

The decision is the latest the Obama administration has made reversing politically sensitive policies involving women's health that were implemented during President George W. Bush's administration. Previously, the Obama administration has announced that it was rescinding a federal regulation that would have expanded the ability of health-care workers to refuse to provide medical care they found morally objectionable, including abortion and Plan B; has lifted federal restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research; and has restored funding to international family-planning groups.

-snip-
The morning-after pills consist of higher doses of a hormone found in many standard birth-control pills. Taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex, it has been shown to be highly effective at preventing pregnancy.



Read more: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/04/AR2010020404050.html?hpid=topnews

[FreakinDJ]

1. Oh the Fundies are going to get sideways on this 1

The Humanity, the humanity

[Frosty cupcake]

2. We care about every blastocyte and embryo

damnit! We just don't give a shit after the baby is born!

[defendandprotect]

3. Good to see that roadblock opened -- !!

[TacticalPeek]

4. Don't let *any* Senator find out.

But, more like this Team Obama.

:kick:

[Hekate]

5. KnR. If you're going to have women in the military, then acknowledge women's bodies & health issues

This is past due --hopefully it will now stick and become a settled part of military medicine, immune from the next Repub president pandering to his "base".

Hekate

[ThomCat]

6. But they were recently talking about punishing any woman who got pregnant.

They were threatening court marshals! They backed down on the court marshals because of public pressure, but it was clear that the real reason they are making the pill available is because they are making it policy that women in the military are prohibited from getting pregnant and making themselves unavailable to the military during their tour of duty.

It's not pro-choice if they are going to coerce women into one choice. It's not pro-choice when their reason for doing this isn't to support women's rights, but to ensure their authority and control over.

While it's a good thing that women who choose to use the pill can now get it, it's hardly an advance if women in the military will be pressured to take it.

That's not pro-choice. That's paternalism, and men insisting that they can still make women's choices for them. :(

[enlightenment]

8. That was not a 'they' - it was one commander, making a

decision (rescinded) for those under his command.

Women in the military are not prohibited from getting pregnant and no one is going to force them to take the morning-after pill.

Dial back the hyperbole, please.

[IthinkThereforeIAM]

10. I hate to nitpick, but..

...although your post was right on the mark! There is a big difference between, "marshal", marshall and martial. I hate to be a so called enforcer of the "english police", but took the risk towards having us all being free of "typos". This stance you promote is simply common sense. I applaud the Obama administraion for backing up this lady.

[Mithreal]

11. Despite what enlightenment said, I think what you wrote is well worth mentioning.

I would not be surprised in the least if coercion of this type happened and I think anyone who dismisses it out-of-hand lacks imagination to foresee unintended consequences for a stressed military.

[truthisfreedom]

7. Ahh, thanks Obama, for reversing reproductive slavery.

Bravo. Kick the fundies in the nuts.

[BlancheSplanchnik]

9. YAY!! More real action from this administration

Team Obama!! Bravo! This is real ethics!

Of course, there's little fanfare, and Flying Monkeys Media won't say a thing about it. Fuck them, so glad we don't bother with cable.