By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Journalist
In yet another move to make abortion more accessible to women, the Department of Defense will begin making the morning-after pill, known as Plan B, available at all of its hospitals and health clinics around the world.
According to WRAL.com, the decision is the result of a recommendation by the Pentagon’s Pharmacy and Therapeutics Committee to include Plan B on the list of drugs that all military facilities should stock.
Abortion activists, who have been pushing the Obama administration to allow the sale of the morning-after-pill at military facilities, are applauding the decision.
“It’s a tragedy that women in uniform have been denied such basic health care,” said Nancy Keenan of NARAL Pro-Choice America. “We applaud the medical experts for standing up for military women.”
However, because the pill acts as an abortifacient by preventing a fertilized egg from implanting in the uterus, pro-life groups are expressing outrage over the decision.
“In the last year we have witnessed the Obama Administration move from the status quo of abortion as legal and available in health care plans to aggressively promoting U.S. government funded abortions,” said Family Research Council director of the Center for Human Dignity, Jeanne Monahan. “In the same way, the fact that Plan B is optional for military facilities is not sufficient for the Obama Administration, so now military facilities will be compelled to carry and disseminate Plan B.”
She adds: “Moreover, a requirement to carry this drug would be a violation of the conscience rights of military personnel who have moral objections to providing it, not to mention the majority of American taxpayers supporting military operations. Taxpayers should not be required to pay for military medical personnel to carry Plan B anywhere in the world.”
This decision is just the latest example of the Obama Administration’s desire to reverse politically sensitive policies regarding women’s reproductive health that were put in place by former Pres. George W. Bush.
Only days after taking office, President Obama rescinded a policy known as the Mexico City Policy that prohibits U.S. tax dollars from being sent to organizations that perform abortions over seas. In addition to lifting federal restrictions on human embryonic stem cell research, he also rescinded regulations to expand conscience protections of health care workers who refuse to provide care they find morally objectionable, including Plan B.
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