Assembly Votes to Ban Oral Contraceptives at UHS
Anti-Birth Control Legislators Pass Unconstitutional UW Birth Control Ban
Madison, WI – Despite overwhelming opposition by constituents and health care professionals, the State Assembly voted last night to ban University of Wisconsin Health Services from prescribing, dispensing, or advertising hormonal birth control pills.
“This bill disregards the constitutional rights of Wisconsin citizens and takes away access to basic preventative health care,” said Kelda Helen Roys, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin. “The only explanation for this ban is nostalgia for the days when women had 12 to 15 pregnancies and childbirth was the leading cause of death for women.”
“The same legislators who are so contemptuous of birth control simultaneously want to make abortion more difficult and dangerous. Apparently, they subscribe to the stork theory, since they clearly haven’t figured out the connection between access to birth control, preventing unintended pregnancy, and reducing the need for abortion.”
This vote comes just two days after the Assembly passed the Patient Abandonment bill (AB 207), which would allow health care providers to withhold vital health information from patients and let vigilante pharmacists refuse to fill valid birth control prescriptions.
“These anti-birth control legislators’ lack of compassion for students who survive sexual assault is stunning, especially considering that many of them work with student interns on a daily basis,” said Roys. The ban ostensibly targets emergency contraception, which is a key component of treatment for the one in eight female students who will be raped during her years at the University of Wisconsin. The bill’s language, however, could ban all oral contraceptives.
Anti-birth control legislators ignored the legal conclusion of Attorney General Peg Lautenschlager that the UW Birth Control Ban (AB 343) is unconstitutional in several ways. Her analysis found that the bill discriminates against women, violates the right to privacy, and contradicts 40 years of Supreme Court precedent establishing access to birth control as a fundamental Constitutional right.
Access to contraception, particularly the morning-after pill, is key to reducing unintended pregnancy and the need for abortion. Having birth control does not make young women more likely to have unprotected sex or to disregard their regular contraceptive method (Journal of Pediatric and Adolescent Gynecology 2004). Emergency contraception is safer to use than aspirin, does not harm existing pregnancies, and has been recommended for over-the-counter status by two FDA expert advisory panels.
NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin is the political arm of the pro-choice movement, building a culture of freedom and personal responsibility. Our political advocacy ensures women the full range of reproductive health care services, including preventing unintended pregnancies, bearing healthy children, and choosing safe, legal abortion. More information is available on our website, www.prochoicewisconsin.org.
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