Kentucky Bill Would Allow Morning After Pill Without Doctor’s Visit 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
February 20, 2006
Louisville, KY (LifeNews.com) — A Kentucky lawmaker has introduced a measure that would allow sales of the morning after pill without visiting a doctor beforehand. Pro-life groups are opposed to the legislation because the drug can sometimes cause an abortion.
Rep. Tom Burch, a Democrat from Louisville, filed the measure after the Kentucky branch of the ACLU released a survey showing nearly 90 percent of pharmacies in Kentucky do not carry the controversial drug.
But Margie Montgomery, executive director of the Kentucky Right to Life Association, says her group opposes the bill because the morning after pill is "not contraception" but the abortion of a ‘tiny human being.’"
Burch disputes that and told the Louisville Courier-Journal, that the drug does not cause abortions.
Under the measure, any doctor could provide any pharmacist with a standing prescription for the Plan B drug that could be filled for any woman who wants it. The process would not be the same as the over the counter status the drug’s maker Barr Laboratories is seeking, but would have essentially the same result.
The measure would not require pharmacies to carry the drugs, the Courier-Journal newspaper reported.
Ed Monahan, executive director of the Catholic Conference of Kentucky told the newspaper his group also opposes the bill.
"People (who) are prescribed drugs should have that happen in the context of advice and counsel and the ability to ask questions of doctors," he said.
The measure has been assigned to the House Health and Welfare Committee where Burch is the chairman. He has not set a date for a hearing on his measure but is expected to do so soon.
Leon Claywell, president of the Kentucky Pharmacists Association, told the newspaper the measure is not necessary because the demand for the drugs is very low. He said his own pharmacy does not carry it.
"I feel more comfortable with that being prescribed by" a physician, he said. "But if the law is changed … certainly pharmacists could handle it."
Related web sites:
Kentucky Right to Life – https://www.krla.org
Kentucky state legislature – https://www.lrc.ky.gov/home.htm
