October 1, 2009 - Thank you to Ohio Right to Life for providing this information.
This week the "Prevention First Act" was reintroduced in the Ohio House (as H.B. 293) by Rep. Tyrone Yates (D, Cincinnati) and in the Ohio Senate (as S.B. 176) by Sen. Teresa Fedor (D, Toledo).
This bill seeks to overturn the current law that prohibits use of state "Women's Health Services" grants for abortion and abortion counseling and referral.
The current law also gives a preference for awarding the grants to local health departments. Before this went into effect, about a million dollars per year of this funding went to pro-abortion Planned Parenthood affiliates. Now none of it does.
The bill also tramples on the conscience rights of pro-life pharmacists, taxpayers and religious hospitals to promote use of the morning-after pill ("emergency contraception"), which in some cases acts as an abortifacient and kills a living human embryo by preventing implantation in the mother's womb.
See further information below and contact your Ohio State Representative and Senator to oppose this bill.
----
[Bill Analysis Information]
Prevention First Act H.B. 293 and S.B. 176
The "As Introduced" versions of the House and Senate bills are identical and have the same line numbers.
1) Repeals R.C. 3701.046, which gives a preference for state Women's Health Services grants to local health departments and prevents the use of the funds for abortion and abortion counseling and referral. (Previously, the majority of these grants went to affiliates of Planned Parenthood, the largest abortion provider in the country.) (lines 1070-1072).
2) Requires any pharmacy that in the normal course of business stocks contraception to obtain and provide upon a customer's request any drug approved by the FDA to prevent pregnancy, including "emergency contraception" (the morning-after pill). (lines 991-1069).
3) Requires hospitals that provide emergency services, including religiously-affiliated hospitals, to provide "emergency contraception" to victims of sexual assault. Hospitals would be required to inform the women that emergency contraception "does not cause an abortion" or "interrupt an established pregnancy". (This is very misleading.) (lines 764-901).
4) Requires the Ohio Department of Health to publish and distribute materials explaining how to use "emergency contraception" (lines 752-763).
5) Requires insurance policies and public employee benefit plans to cover prescription contraceptives if the plan covers other prescription drugs (lines 12-28, 902-920). Since Plan B "emergency contraception" is a prescription drug for persons under 17, coverage would be required for family members under 17.
6) Repeals current R.C. 3313.6011 which provides that instruction in venereal disease education must stress abstinence until marriage and replaces it with an authorization for schools to use "comprehensive sex education" (lines 163-407).
----
[Additional Information]
Although bill proponents claim the morning-after pill will reduce unintended pregnancies and abortions, a January 2007 study in Obstetrics & Gynecology by leading proponents of the drug found that increased access to "emergency contraception" had not reduced the rates of abortion or unintended pregnancy.
The bill would force pro-life taxpayers to pay for Ohio Department of Health efforts to promote the use of the morning-after pill (and thus to promote some early abortions).
Although supporters of this bill claim to be "pro-choice," their bill would deny pro-life people in the health care professions the "freedom to choose" not to participate in the destruction of human life.
The morning-after pill is already widely available at many pharmacies (over-the-counter for adults and by prescription for minors under age 17), yet the proponents of this bill want to force even pro-life pharmacists and hospitals to all dispense it. The State of Ohio should not coerce health care providers into violating their religious and moral objections against ending a human life.
The intent of the bill seems to be to force pro-life health care providers to either violate their religious and moral beliefs or to get out of the health care professions. Ironically, this could ultimately decrease access to health care, rather than increase it.
