Left In Lowell

Well, well, sanity begins to creep back into the debate about EC (emergency contraception) with the unanimous 37-0 passage of the strong EC bill in the state Senate.

This bill will require ERs to dispense EC (which is different from the abortion pill) to rape victims and allow some pharmacists to sell EC to women without a prescription. EC is for use up to 5 days after unprotected sex, and doesn’t harm an existing pregnancy.

Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts had this to say in an email:

After hours of intense debate, we were able to defeat two amendments that would have weakened the bill. We would like to thank the bill’s lead sponsor, Senator Pam Resor for leading this fight. We also thank Senators Susan Fargo, Brian Lees, Dianne Wilkerson, Jarrett Barrios, Robert Havern, Stephen Brewer, Cynthia Stone Creem and Richard Tisei for their powerful arguments on behalf of this legislation during the debate.

This bill has to now pass the House and if it does, will be on its way to Mitt, where it will likely get vetoed (and overridden, I hope).

Also, this was reported in the Globe about NH and their own (successfully passed and signed) EC bill:

Gov. John Lynch on Thursday signed a bill that would make emergency contraception — better known as the “morning-after” pill — available to women hoping to prevent unwanted pregnancies.

Lynch, a Democrat who supports abortion rights, praised the bill’s strong bipartisan effort. “It is just good common sense,” he said of the measure.

The Legislature passed a similar bill last year, but then-Republican Gov. Craig Benson vetoed it.

To those of us who were working for the Dems in NH during the election, we can now feel vindicated. We helped change the course of NH politics in this one regard, at least.