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‘Morning after’ pill passes Legislature
No doctor visit, prescription required
By TOM PRECIOUS
News Albany Bureau
6/23/2005 http://www.buffalonews.com/images/space.gif http://www.buffalonews.com/images/space.gif ALBANY - After four years of battles between religious and women’s groups, the State Senate unexpectedly and narrowly passed a measure Wednesday to make emergency-contraception pills more easily available to women, as well as teenagers, to reduce unintended pregnancies. The deal to allow pharmacists and nurses to provide the morning after pill without a prescription came in the waning days of the 2005 session.
Other deals were reached on a host of issues, including the use of new voting machines across the state, extension of a law permitting judges to force mentally ill people to take medications and a required Web site posting of political donations.
The emergency-contraception measure, which angered rank-and-file Republicans who saw their leadership turn to Democrats to pass the controversial bill, was believed to have died another slow, Albany-style death. But that all changed when Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, R-Brunswick, pushed the bill onto the floor.
Stung by criticism from his fellow Republicans over the bill, Bruno told lawmakers: “I would not be judging others who have feelings that we are doing the right thing to avoid unwanted pregnancies.”
Besides splitting legislators and influential interest groups, the measure now puts pro-choice Gov. George E. Pataki, who must sign or veto the bill, in a political spot as he tries to cozy up to conservatives for a possible presidential run in 2008. Coincidentally, the Senate approved the bill, 34-27, just a half-hour before Pataki was to address a gathering of conservative leaders in Manhattan.
Contact Governor Pataki here to veto
No doctor visit, prescription required
By TOM PRECIOUS
News Albany Bureau
6/23/2005 http://www.buffalonews.com/images/space.gif http://www.buffalonews.com/images/space.gif ALBANY - After four years of battles between religious and women’s groups, the State Senate unexpectedly and narrowly passed a measure Wednesday to make emergency-contraception pills more easily available to women, as well as teenagers, to reduce unintended pregnancies. The deal to allow pharmacists and nurses to provide the morning after pill without a prescription came in the waning days of the 2005 session.
Other deals were reached on a host of issues, including the use of new voting machines across the state, extension of a law permitting judges to force mentally ill people to take medications and a required Web site posting of political donations.
The emergency-contraception measure, which angered rank-and-file Republicans who saw their leadership turn to Democrats to pass the controversial bill, was believed to have died another slow, Albany-style death. But that all changed when Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno, R-Brunswick, pushed the bill onto the floor.
Stung by criticism from his fellow Republicans over the bill, Bruno told lawmakers: “I would not be judging others who have feelings that we are doing the right thing to avoid unwanted pregnancies.”
Besides splitting legislators and influential interest groups, the measure now puts pro-choice Gov. George E. Pataki, who must sign or veto the bill, in a political spot as he tries to cozy up to conservatives for a possible presidential run in 2008. Coincidentally, the Senate approved the bill, 34-27, just a half-hour before Pataki was to address a gathering of conservative leaders in Manhattan.
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The Pataki administration declined to comment on the bill Wednesday night.
[more..](http://www.buffalonews.com/editorial/20050623/1059864.asp).