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Rodham Clinton Calls For Affordable Access To Contraception, Pledges To Continue Hold On FDA Commissioner Nomination
Article Date: 16 Jun 2006 - 1:00am (PDT)

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday during a speech called for approval of a resolution (S Res 485) she introduced that says Congress should work toward providing affordable access to contraceptives to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, CQ HealthBeat reports. While speaking at a National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association luncheon, Rodham Clinton also said she would continue the hold that she and Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) have put on acting FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach's nomination to permanently head the agency until it issues a decision on whether to approve Barr Laboratories' application for nonprescription sales of its emergency contraceptive Plan B to women and girls ages 17 and older. "We're not telling [FDA] how to decide [on Barr's application]. We're telling them to decide it, because it would be indefensible to ignore the recent scientific investigations they've been given," Rodham Clinton said (Crowley, CQ HealthBeat, 6/13). In addition, she called on the country to "unite around a common goal of reducing the amount of abortions, ... not by making them illegal as many are attempting to do or overturning Roe v. Wade and undermining the constitutional protections that decision provided, but by preventing unintended pregnancies in the first place through education, contraception, accessible health care and services, empowering women to make decisions" (Hernandez, New York Times, 6/14). Rodham Clinton is sponsoring a measure (S 20) that would increase funding for family planning programs and a bill (S 2916) that would require state Medicaid programs to cover family planning services and supplies (Rodham Clinton release, 6/13).