Startling reversal of politically-sensitive women’s health policy
In a move destined to cause controversy, the U.S. Department of Defense will begin making the morning-after pill Plan B available at all of its hospitals and health clinics around the world. The decision is the Obama administration’s latest reversal of politically sensitive women’s health policies implemented during the Bush administration, the Washington Post reports. Nancy Keenan of NARAL Pro-Choice America estimates that the decision affects more than 350,000 women in the military: “It’s a tragedy that women in uniform have been denied such basic health care,” she says. Jeanne Monahan, director of the Center for Human Dignity at the Family Research Council, opposes its availability: “Because this can be the difference between preventing and destroying life, a requirement to carry this drug could violate the conscience rights of military personnel who have moral objections.”