PPRM Plans To Distribute EC At No Cost In Colorado

The Planned Parenthood of the Rocky Mountains on Friday plans to provide emergency contraception -- which can prevent pregnancy if taken up to 72 hours after sexual intercourse -- at no cost at its Colorado clinics in protest of Gov. Bill Owen's (R) veto of a bill (HB 1212) that would have given pharmacists the authority to write prescriptions for EC, the AP/Colorado Daily Summit News reports (Squires, AP/Colorado Daily Summit News, 6/27). Owens in April vetoed the bill, which was sponsored by state Sens. Betty Boyd (D) and Jennifer Veiga (D) and would have allowed pharmacists who object to EC on moral grounds to decline to prescribe the drug (Kaiser Daily Women's Health Policy Report, 5/5). According to the AP/Summit News, PPRM last year after Owens vetoed a bill (HB 1042) that would have required all hospitals in the state to inform sexual assault survivors of the availability of EC distributed 1,186 doses of EC at no cost. The group this year expects to dispense about 1,500 doses, the AP/Summit News reports. According to the state Department of Regulatory Agencies, Colorado law permits some prescriptions to be given without full exams. PPRM says that girls and women who request EC will undergo a "brief screening" and their charts will be reviewed by a nurse practitioner or a physician, the AP/Summit News reports. Opponents of PPRM's plan say that EC could be unsafe for minors (AP/Colorado Daily Summit News, 6/27).

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