Eyes on Romney as morning-after pill OK'd

Massachusetts lawmakers yesterday approved a measure that would allow pharmacists to dispense the ''morning-after pill" without a prescription and require hospitals to offer it to rape victims, setting the stage for Governor Mitt Romney's first major decision on an issue that many conservatives link to abortion.

The House approved the bill yesterday, 135 to 17, following the Senate's unanimous vote for a similar bill last month. Lawmakers will have to settle several differences between the two versions before it heads to Romney's desk.

Because both chambers approved it by veto-proof margins, the measure will become law no matter what Romney does. With the Republican governor considering a run for president, however, his decision on the emergency contraception legislation is being watched closely by activists on both sides.

When he ran for governor in 2002, Romney said he supported expanding access to the emergency contraception pill, a high dose of hormones that women can take to prevent pregnancy up to five days after sex. He also promised not to change the state's laws on abortion, despite his personal opposition to terminating a pregnancy.

Yesterday, his spokeswoman suggested that Romney's decision will revolve around the question of whether the emergency contraception bill changes the current laws on abortion. ''When the governor receives the emergency contraception legislation, he will review it carefully and measure whether or not it changes the status quo," spokeswoman Julie Teer said.

A nationally prominent group of social conservatives urged him to veto it.

''It's a family issue. People will be watching to see what he does on this," said Connie Mackey, vice president for government affairs of the Washington-based Family Research Council. ''This gives the right to young girls to go in and get a very dangerous drug. It's insane. It's worthy of a governor's veto."

Supporters say scientific studies show that the pill prevents pregnancies by halting ovulation, fertilization, or implantation of a fertilized egg in the uterine wall, but that it has no effect after an egg is firmly implanted. The pill's only connection to abortion, the supporters say, is that it will reduce the number of abortions by preventing unwanted pregnancies.

''There is no more-promising approach to reducing abortion rates in Massachusetts than passage of this legislation," said Dianne Luby, president of the Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts. ''This bill is a common-sense prevention measure."

Supporters of the bill say the governor would be breaking his word if he vetoes it. On a questionnaire Planned Parenthood gave to the gubernatorial candidates in 2002, Romney answered ''yes" to the question, ''Do you support efforts to increase access to emergency contraception?"

''I hope the governor honors his commitment," said Melissa Kogut of NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts.

But opponents contend that the pill will cause a ''chemical abortion" in women who, in their view, are already pregnant. Many people who believe life begins at conception, or when the egg is fertilized, argue the pill causes an abortion by hampering implantation in the uterine wall.

Maria Parker of the Massachusetts Catholic Conference, the public policy arm of the Catholic Church, said the church isn't opposed to helping rape victims prevent pregnancy, but it opposes abortion in any circumstance.

''If she is not pregnant, morally it is OK to use the pill," Parker said. ''The moral problem for us comes when she is pregnant, and giving her emergency contraception would cause a chemical abortion."

Parker said the church also opposes the idea of allowing pharmacists to hand out the pill ''like candy" to anyone who wants it. But the Catholic Conference hasn't decided whether to urge Romney to veto the bill, in part because of a change made on the House floor yesterday.

Urged by Representative John H. Rogers, a Norwood Democrat, the House amended the bill in an apparent attempt to give Catholic hospitals the right to deny the pill to women who are pregnant. The amendment says that ''no privately controlled hospital or other health facility shall be required to admit any patient for the purpose of performing an abortion, performing any sterilization procedure, or receiving contraceptive devices or information."

Supporters of the bill aren't sure the change would allow Catholic hospitals to opt out, however. Lawmakers from the two chambers will have to agree on that before sending the bill to the governor. Parker said she was heartened by the inclusion of the amendment, a version of which was rejected in the Senate.

Under the bill, only pharmacists who have gone through special training and have an agreement with a doctor would be allowed to distribute the emergency contraception pill without a prescription. The training program would be approved by the commissioner of public health.

Also, the bill would require hospitals to offer the pill to rape victims. They would not be required to provide it to every woman seeking the pill, though many hospitals already do: Most of the state's hospitals, 59 out of 71, according to a 2004 poll by abortion rights groups, already offer the pill to rape victims.

The Food and Drug Administration approved the use of the emergency contraception pill as a form of prescription birth control in 1998. But the FDA has refused to grant a request by the pill's manufacturer to sell it over the counter, despite an advisory panel recommending the move in 2003. In the absence of federal action, seven states have allowed pharmacists to dispense it without a prescription.

The emergency contraception pill, called Plan B, is manufactured by Barr Laboratories. It could prevent as many as 1.5 million unintended pregnancies a year and prevent as many as 700,000 abortions nationally, according to medical and women's organizations who petitioned the FDA in 2003. The pill is not to be confused with RU-486, which is used to end pregnancies up to 49 days after the beginning of the last menstrual cycle.

Scott Greenberger can be reached at greenberger@globe.com.