Senators Harry Reid and Hillary Rodham Clinton, who stand on opposite sides of the abortion debate, will offer an amendment to the Senate budget this week to set aside funds for programs that will help reduce the need for abortion by preventing unintended pregnancy.<\/p>\n
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist opposes a woman’s right to choose. So shouldn’t it be safe to assume that he would support the Prevention First Act – a bill to reduce unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion? Unfortunately, Sen. Frist doesn’t see it that way. He is willing to restrict the right to choose without improving women’s access to birth control. It’s a good thing that Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid – who opposes a woman’s right to choose – is willing to bridge the pro-choice\/pro-life divide by offering the Prevention First Act. <\/p>\n
Could the U.S. Senate really vote against a bill that would end insurance discrimination that favors Viagra over the Pill, funds teen-pregnancy prevention programs, and educates women about the morning-after pill? With anti-choice leaders like Sen. Bill Frist setting policy and hard-line anti-contraception activists at his side, this common-sense proposal could actually be defeated. <\/p>\n
A national reproductive health policy must institute reforms that will revitalize contraceptive research and development, ensure that safe and effective birth control methods are widely available and promote public education about sexual responsibility and reproductive health. Promoting ignorance and denial is not the way to go.<\/p>\n