'Morning After Pill' Advocates Hope Sebelius Will Reverse Restriction on Minors
Some advocates of Plan B, also called "emergency contraception" or the "morning after pill," are asking Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to reverse her decision to not allow minors to obtain the drug over the counter. Since the decision was politically motivated and the election is over, they argue, Sebelius should now reverse her order.
While supporters say Plan B is a contraceptive drug, pro-life groups maintain that it is an abortifacient.
Reproductive Health Technologies Project has begun a petition asking Sebelius to "revisit the evidence and remove the restrictions, placing women's reproductive health above politics."
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"It was very clear at the time that it wasn't the science, it was the politics that troubled them," Kirsten Moore, president and CEO of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project, told BuzzFeed. "But coming out of this election, the calculus around the politics has changed."
When Sebelius issued the ruling last December, it was widely viewed as a way to appease Catholics who were already upset with the administration.
Sebelius was also responsible for the decision to require employers, even most religious employers such as religious schools and hospitals, to cover contraception, sterilization and abortifacients in their health care plans. Additionally, a Catholic organization that aided victims of human trafficking was denied an HHS grant because it would not provide referrals for abortion.
In a December 2011 interview with The Christian Post shortly after the ruling, Sister Mary Ann Walsh, spokesperson for United States Conference of Catholic Bishops, offered support for the decision but maintained that it did not alleviate the other offending decisions.
"We don't believe in Plan B at all, but we're absolutely horrified that someone might push it to kids 11 years old, and that's where the secretary drew the line," Walsh said.
