A win for women.Byline: The Register-Guard Hats off to the Oregon House for an important contribution to women's health Women's Health Definition Women's health is the effect of gender on disease and health that encompasses a broad range of biological and psychosocial issues. with passage of a bill that mandates health insurance coverage of birth control prescriptions. The 49-9 vote recently ended a 14-year legislative struggle to require all insurance plans with prescription drug prescription drug Prescription medication Pharmacology An FDA-approved drug which must, by federal law or regulation, be dispensed only pursuant to a prescription–eg, finished dose form and active ingredients subject to the provisos of the Federal Food, Drug, coverage to include contraceptives. A compromise amendment exempting religious employers who primarily hire and serve people of the same faith helped add 18 Republicans to the unanimous Democratic support for House Bill 2700 - the Access to Birth Control Act. Oregonians who are covered by private health insurance and are using birth control pills birth control pill n. See oral contraceptive. birth control pill Oral contraceptive, see there , hormone patches, Depo-Provera injections or other prescription contraception stand to benefit from the new law. The bill is expected to pass in the Democratically controlled Senate, and Gov. Ted Kulongoski Theodore R. "Ted" Kulongoski (born November 5 1940, in rural Missouri[1]) is an American Democratic politician. Since 2003, he has served as the Governor of Oregon. He was re-elected in 2006. has said he will sign it. The legislation has another important feature that will improve treatment options for rape victims. It requires hospitals to inform victims of sexual assault about emergency contraceptives and make them available on request. Emergency contraceptives are essentially extra-strength birth control pills that reduce the risk of pregnancy by as much as 89 percent if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex Unprotected sex refers to any act of sexual intercourse in which the participants use no form of barrier contraception. Sexually transmitted infections Specifically, unprotected sex . The drug works primarily by preventing ovulation ovulation /ovu·la·tion/ (ov?u-la´shun) the discharge of a secondary oocyte from a graafian follicle.ov´ulatory o·vu·la·tion n. The discharge of an ovum from the ovary. and fertilization and has no effect on a fertilized fer·til·ize v. fer·til·ized, fer·til·iz·ing, fer·til·iz·es v.tr. 1. To cause the fertilization of (an ovum, for example). 2. egg that has already implanted. The insurance coverage requirement in HB 2700 brings private insurance in line with group insurance coverage. Oregon commercial group plans have been required to include contraceptives in their prescription coverage since a U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission ruling in 2000. Twenty-six other states already require insurance plans to cover prescription contraceptives. It's good public policy. Easing financial barriers to obtaining prescription contraceptives reduces unplanned pregnancies and abortions, both of which can add much more to the state's health care costs than a pregnancy-preventing prescription. |
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