Dear Colleague:

Alabama's public health nurses have been ordered to disburse the
abortifacient Morning-After Pill (MAP).  Many have quit or have requested
reassignment rather than comply.  Now comes word that the federal
government does not require the distribution of MAP, as previously
claimed.  The protesting nurses should be rehired.  And the State Health
Officer, Donald Williamson, responsible for the fiasco, should be fired.
 
Steven W. Mosher
President

PRI Weekly Briefing
4 August 2004
Vol. 6 / No. 26

Nurses Vote With Their Feet on Morning After Pill; vindicated by Feds

Recently an act of courage by a small number health care-professionals
went under-reported nationwide. While the national media is eager to
report stories that are pro-"morning-after pill," Associated Press writer
Bob Johnson did extensive reporting on the objections of health care
workers in Alabama to distributing the "Plan-B" morning after pill, which
was picked up by local Alabama markets but relatively few mid-sized
markets nationwide. To our knowledge, only the Fox News Channel reported
the story nationwide.
 
The story concerns 11 nurses employed by the Alabama Department of Public
Health who have quit their jobs rather than distribute the "Plan-B"
"morning after pill," also known as "emergency contraception."
 
"The first time I had to do it, it made me physically sick and I told that
to my supervisor," said Nurse Donna Tyner, to the Associated Press. Tyner
resigned from her job as a nurse practitioner at state public health
clinics in the Montgomery area.
 
According to the AP story of June 29, Tyner quit because she felt she was
being required to distribute the pills, even though she is morally and
religiously opposed to the process.
 
An editorial in the "Montgomery Advertiser" of July 7, 2004 reported that
while several nurses have resigned over moral and ethical concerns,
accommodations have been made for those who object to distributing
"Plan-B" and that none have been fired.
 
But according to the AP, Tyner said she quit after she was told she had no
other options when the health department began issuing the emergency
contraceptives in April to women at its family planning clinics across the
state.
 
"I told my supervisor that I was not comfortable doing it," said Tyner,
who is now working at private rural health clinics in Lee and Russell
counties. "When she got back to me, she said it was part of the protocol
and that if I refused to do it, the first time I'd be reprimanded and the
second time I'd be terminated."
 
Tyner said that in counseling, women at the clinics are being told that
the emergency contraceptives are one birth control option available to
them.
 
"It's one of the things you have to go over with them. We're encouraging
promiscuous behavior," Tyner said.
 
Tyner also told the AP that she hates that she had to quit her health
department job.
 
"There are very good people at the health department. It's a strong
organization that does a lot of good for people," Tyner said. "I wouldn't
have left if emergency contraception had not become an issue."
 
State Health Officer Don Williamson has said federal officials require
states to make available a variety of birth control options to receive
federal family planning money.
 
The nine members of Alabama's congressional delegation have written a
letter to Williamson "to clarify federal policy," which they said does not
require distribution of emergency contraceptives to receive the federal
funding.
 
Gov. Bob Riley of Alabama told the AP that he is concerned about the
clinics distributing emergency contraceptives and has discussed the issue
with Williamson.
 
"I have been assured that accommodation is being made for anyone who
objects," Riley said. (Associated Press June 29)
 
The AP also reported that State health department officials say they had
to begin offering the morning-after pill in order to continue receiving
federal Title X money for the department's family planning program.
 
Now, one month later the AP is reporting that "The Alabama Department of
Public Health is not required to distribute emergency contraceptives, also
called "morning after pills," at its family planning clinics, according to
a letter from U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson to
an Alabama U.S. Rep.."
 
The AP reports that U.S. Rep. Robert Aderholt, R-Alabama, had asked
Thompson to clarify federal requirements after workers began distributing
the pills at state clinics earlier this year.
 
Aderholt said Wednesday that he asked Thompson to clarify federal rules
concerning federal family planning funds after he received complaints from
health department nurses in his north Alabama district.
 
In the letter, Thompson said state family planning clinics are expected to
offer a "broad range" of family planning methods, but that they are not
required to offer emergency contraceptives.
 
"The current Title X statute, regulations and guidelines do not mandate
the distribution of emergency contraceptive pills," Thompson said in the
letter.
 
"There's not a mandate to do this," Aderholt said. "I don't think it's the
best policy to proceed with this, but now they (health department
officials) can only say it's their policy to proceed."
 
Dr. Tom Miller, health department family planning director told the AP
that 11 nurses have quit their jobs at the clinics because of moral
objections to the emergency contraceptives. He said he has received about
50 requests from clinic employees to be assigned to different jobs because
they did not want to distribute the pills. He said arrangements have so
far been made for all but a couple of those workers to be reassigned. (AP
July 28)
 
What do those 11 nurses who resigned from Alabama Department of Public
Health and 50 other employees who requested reassignment-so as not to
distribute morning after pills-know that Dr. Miller does not?
 
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