[GPCA Updates] RELEASE Green pres. candidate Stein blasts Obama Admin. blocking of Morning After Pill

[Green Party of California Updates]

Jill Stein for President
Media Release
http://www.jillstein.org

For Immediate Release: December 20, 2011


Obama White House is a danger to women's health

Stein Opposes HHS Decision Blocking Expanded Access to Morning After Pill


Dr. Jill Stein, MD, the Green Party presidential candidate, has strongly
criticized an action by Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Kathleen
Sebelius taking the unprecedented step of overruling the Food and Drug
Administration's decision to expand access to the Morning After Pill (MAP).

"The Obama administration is clearly more concerned about political battle
over access to contraceptives during an election year than the health of
millions of women in the U.S.," said Stein, a graduate of and former faculty
member at Harvard Medical School.

"This decision should have been based on science and women's right to health
care, not appeasement of birth control opponents. Once again, the Obama
Administration has shown its willingness to sacrifice principle for political
expediency, and the result is a further restriction on the right of women to
control our own bodies," added Stein.

The FDA's review of the scientific evidence and 60 national medical groups
recommended that MAP be available without a prescription. Women in more than
46 other countries can get MAP without a prescription.

Experts says there is no medical basis for refusing women access to MAP based
on age. The Morning-After Pill is a safe and effective form of contraception
that can prevent pregnancy after sex. It can be taken within 5 days of sex, is
most effective when taken within 24 hours and can reduce the risk of
unintended pregnancy by up to 89% percent, according to www.not-2-late.com.

On December 7, 2011, the FDA decided that the prescription requirement for
women under 17 should be removed. This meant that millions of young women
could get the pill over-the-counter without going through a doctor. This
change would benefit all women - the pill would no longer be stuck
"behind-the-counter."

"The fight for accessing emergency contraceptives is a fight to access health
care, something Democrats and Republicans alike restrict by refusing to
implement a national, publicly-funded universal health care system," added
Stein, a long-time advocate for a single payer, expanded and improved Medicare
for All program.

Stein also took aim at the threatened Obama decision to restrict coverage of
basic birth control under the Affordable Care Act. "It is astounding that the
President is considering expansion of a sweeping refusal clause that allows
predominantly secular colleges and hospitals with religious affiliations to
deny birth control coverage for students and employees. This would take
reproductive health back into the 19th Century."

Stein noted that the new health law already restricts access to private health
insurance policies that cover abortion. If the new law is fully implemented,
it will be impossible for some women to choose a health insurance plan that
covers abortion without paying an additional fee, and some companies can
refuse to offer plans that cover abortion completely.

Stein pointed out that the opposition by both the Obama White House and both
parties in Congress to making health care a universal right -- like the rest
of the industrialized world -- actually contributes to a higher rate of
abortion. Abortions are obviously unnecessary when women have unimpeded access
to birth control and can prevent unintended pregnancy in the first place. In
countries with single payer health care for all programs, where family
planning and abortion services are free and more accessible than in America,
abortion rates are actually significantly lower than in the United States.


Paid for and authorized by Jill Stein for President