Did you know that the Maryland Senate voted to reject a bill that would have allowed pharmacists to dispense emergency contraception (EC) without a prescription?

In 2006, the state Senate voted 24-23 to reject SB 297, a bill that would have allowed pharmacists to provide women with emergency contraception without a doctor's prescription.  EC, also known as the "morning-after" pill, is simply a concentrated dose of ordinary birth-control pills that can prevent pregnancy if taken shortly after sex.  The bill, sponsored by Senator Sharon Grosfeld, gave licensed pharmacists and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene the authority to develop guidelines and regulations to determine who would be able to obtain EC at pharmacies and under what conditions.  Sen. Grosfeld noted:  "Failing to pass this legislation is the equivalent of what women had to endure in the days when they had to ask their husbands' permission to take contraception and when they had to beg the government for their right to vote."

Connor Adam Sheets, Morning After Pill Without Prescription Blocked, The Capital, Mar. 29, 2006;  Jill Rosen, Morning-after Pill Bill Killed in 24-23 Senate Vote, Baltimore Sun, Mar. 29, 2006.  S.B. 297, 422nd Gen. Assem., Reg. Sess. (Md. 2007).