A recent radical recommendation by a pro-abortion medical group raises the question: Is ideology or
science driving decisions on reproduction-related drugs?
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG)
now wants contraceptives sold without a prescription, age requirement or
physician's exam or consultation about complications. Besides stated concerns
about reducing pregnancies, ACOG also highlighted in its decision "the
possibility of pharmacists inappropriately refusing to provide oral
contraceptives." ACOG actively lobbies for abortion rights and to limit
conscience rights for health professionals.
The Obama administration shares these political positions of ACOG
yet earlier nixed the notion of moving contraceptives to drugstore shelves.
Besides stated concerns about teen safety, moving contraceptives out of the
pharmacy would undermine the administration's carefully politically calculated mandate
that employers' health plans must pay for contraceptive prescriptions.
It is naïve to assume that ACOG or the administration completely
separate deeply seated ideological and political dogmas from health policy
decisions. This potential for personal persuasions to influence public health
policy poses a threat to women's health and safety. Policy decisions on
reproduction-related drugs must be probed by media, researched by consumers and
vetted by experts well beyond the coterie of abortion advocates in ACOG and
this administration.
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