Our lame Governor’s veto of the "morning-after pill" legislation was easily overridden by the state legislature today. The vote in the House: 139-16. The vote in the Senate: 37-0. Even the Republicans wouldn’t back him up.
And so Mitt Romney, the self-proclaimed "red speck in a blue state," has another issue to wave in front of social conservatives in South Carolina and other early primary states. "I did my level best, but there are just too many libruls in Massachusetts," we can expect to hear. Please. If he actually cared about this issue, don’t you think he would have tried at least to strong-arm the Republicans to back up his veto? Or to bring along some of the Finneran Democrats, many of whom still serve in the legislature? Romney just wanted a campaign issue out of this, and that’s what he got. His worst nightmare would have been seeing his veto sustained – then he’d actually have to deal with the issue here in Massachusetts, instead of giving speeches about how hard he tries.
I have a really basic question. Why is the State Legislature voting on this anyway? Doesn’t the FDA have to approve it for over the counter sales? And didn’t the FDA just reject the recommendation of its expert panel?
Who are some of the Finneran Democrats you’re referring to? Aren’t they just conservative democrats? Why are they labelled Finneran democrats? What if they were conservative before Finneran and remain so after Finneran?
It’s just a shorthand. Like Rockefeller Republicans. No need to get all worked up.
Abby: If the FDA approved EC for over the counter sale, then you’re right, we wouldn’t need to do this. It would immediately become available all over the country (though less available in some places, I suspect). What the state bill does is to create a system where pharmacies enter into agreements with doctors, who “prescribe” the emergency contraception to the pharmacist’s customers at their discretion. With this agreement, a pharmacist can decide who to dispence the EC to, under a doctor’s authorization, without the customer having to actually go visit the doctor to get the prescription first. It streamlines the process to make it almost as good as over the counter. It’s a workaround while we wait for the FDA to do what it should.