Finding Common Ground

Finding Common Ground

August 1, 2006

There is no issue as politically divisive in America as abortion. But beneath the rancor, there is opportunity to find common ground. At a speech yesterday at the Center for American Progress Action Fund, Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid declared, "whether you are pro-life or pro-choice, there is no question that the rate of unintended pregnancy in America is unacceptably high. Half of the six million pregnancies each year are unintended, and nearly half of these unplanned pregnancies end in abortion." Reid's speech comes on a day when America —from Washington D.C. to South Dakota —seems poised to reject hard-right ideology and embrace common sense solutions.

• There is bi-partisan support for a prevention first agenda.  Reid has joined a bi-partisan group —including Reps. Louise Slaughter (D-NY), Diana DeGette (D-CO), Nancy Johnson (R-CT), Jim Greenwood (R-PA), and Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) —in sponsoring the Prevention First Act. The bill would: 1) prohibit group health plans from excluding contraception; 2) require hospitals to provide emergency contraception to victims of sexual assault; 3) require federally funded programs to provide medically accurate information about contraceptives; and 4) provide money for comprehensive sexuality education programs.

• There appears to be some progress being made on Plan B —but it may be a bait and switch.  The Bush administration has been blocking over-the-counter sales of the morning-after pill, also known as Plan B, even though "a panel of independent advisers overwhelmingly backed nonprescription sales for all ages" in 2003. In a surprise announcement, "The Food and Drug Administration said yesterday that it was moving toward endorsing sale of the morning-after pill without a prescription for women 18 and older." That's the good news. The bad news: it may all be a political ploy. The announcement came the day before the agency’s acting commissioner, Dr. Andrew von Eschenbach, faces his "confirmation hearing in a Senate committee." Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Patty Murray (D-WA) have said "they would block a floor vote on his confirmation until the F.D.A. made a final yes-or-no decision on the drug’s sale."

• Voters in South Dakota are poised to take a stand against extremism.  In March, South Dakota Governor Mike Rounds (R) signed legislation making it "a crime for doctors to perform an abortion unless the procedure was necessary to save the woman’s life." The law contained "no exception for cases of rape or incest." South Dakota voters, some of the most conservative in the nation, appear poised to reverse the ban through a ballot initiative. A statewide poll found "47 percent of voters polled would vote to reject the ban, compared with 39 percent who would vote to keep it.”