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Home Front: Culture Wars
Pentagon to Offer Emergency Contraception to Military Bases Worldwide
2010-02-05
The Pentagon for the first time will require military bases worldwide to offer emergency contraception or the so-called morning-after pill, a military spokesman told Fox News Friday.

The decision follows a recommendation by an independent panel of doctors and pharmacists in November, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman said. The panel determined that emergency contraception should be added to the military's list of medications that must be stocked at each military facility.

The decision represents a policy shift from the Bush administration when such a change was resisted, Nancy Keenan, president of the abortion rights group NARAL Pro-Choice America, said in a statement praising the decision.

Over much resistance from abortion opponents, the Food and Drug Administration approved the over-the-counter sale of the morning-after pill to adults in 2006.

The drug, which contains a high dose of birth control pills, can be used to prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex by blocking ovulation or fertilization. Critics of the contraceptive say it is the equivalent of an abortion pill because it can prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus.

It is not known when the policy would be implemented.

Military hospitals are legally forbidden to perform abortions. When asked if the new policy violated that law, Whitman had no immediate response and said he'd have to defer to the policy experts.
Posted by:tipper

#17  OTOH NEWS KERALA > [London]CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY GIRLS ORDERED TO MAKE LESS NOISE DURING SEX.
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2010-02-05 22:34  

#16  @#11 Procopious 2k nails it:
This is probably the flag pole's response to the commander who a month or so back threatened UCMJ action to soldiers who got pregnant [see self inflicted wound] resulting in the loss of personnel with skills creating operational problems.


Uh, yes a thousand times. Which goes back to my initial assertion (different phrasing this time) that yes, I concede in an ideal world abstinence could work but in a common sense which is not-so-flipping common world some people (present company excluded) will not abstain while deployed and bingo you will need to have contraception available.
Posted by: GirlThursday   2010-02-05 22:17  

#15  Lest we fergit, 9-11 + GWOT = WAR FOR OWG-NWO > Add to US Army-DOD's news this AM that the US Army intends to cancel proposed budget cuts due to Soldiers' complaints about effects on family services, + US Embassy-Consuls reloc to US-controlled Milbases andor expanding its security to near-USDOD specs > IMO OWG-NWO + DEV "RISE/REST OF THE WORLD" = US MILBASES WILL BECOME SYMBOLIC, LIVING OR OPER
"INTERNATIONAL/SANCTUARY CITIES" + SHOPPING MALLS FOR ANY AND ALL NON-US CITIZEN LOCALS + FOREIGN NATIONALS.

Guam's "GUANTANAMO MODEL/SCENARIO" applied GLOBALLY, i.e. "MINI-US/AMERICA IN CUBA" aka SOVEREIGN US BASE ENCLAVE ON HOSTILE SOVEREIGN FOREIGN NATIONS.

MARKET-CONSUMER IMPERIALISM.

But I digress ....
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2010-02-05 22:10  

#14  "You are a human being, you have a choice. Start acting like it."

Making it personal when it is not personal? That is a sure sign of irrational thinking. Logically speaking, the Pentagon's policies are not mine to question. The first rule of being a soldier is you follow orders. You just failed the 'follow orders' portion of this hypothetical argument, yet you condescend to question my self control abilities? Second, my self control is well outside the bounds of being any of your business.
Posted by: GirlThursday   2010-02-05 22:00  

#13  @#7 #8

Either you're completely jesting or you're disrespecting between 13-20% of the present military depending on locale. Those in uniform are by-and-large professionals. I applaud your unabashed bluntness about your view that women should be separate from men. But you leave out something of the warrior ethos when you do that. Those soldiering can't afford to think like that. In war times when strapping on a flack vest, LBE, Kevlar, etc., to go out and do your job you are a soldier not a man and not a woman. You are a trained killer. If this threatens you, get some therapy, because women soldiers aren't your Madonnas or Whores, or whatever neat little box category society wants them in. And those 'girls' who can't hack it usually get pregnant or get kicked out within the first year or two tops.

Women currently out there risking their lives are not to be made light of unchecked, this is not okay.
Posted by: GirlThursday   2010-02-05 21:52  

#12  GirlThursday, it is possible. I lived through a lot of deployments and managed to keep myself out of situations where pregnancy or STDs would become an issue.

Surely you girls can keep your legs shut long enough in order -- or else soldier up and face the consequences of your actions. You're not a cat in heat backign up against any available couch leg and yowling at night. You are a human being, you have a choice. Start acting like it.

Don't get me wrong, if the "morning after" is needed then as long as its not an abortion (that is destroying a human live instead of preventing ovulation), then I can have no objection that would be legally enforceable.

Otherwise how about YOU be responsible enough to take your own pills or abstain from activity that can get you pregnant.

Don't depend on the medics/government to bail you out from your own lack of control at the cost of a human life.
Posted by: OldSpook   2010-02-05 21:51  

#11  This is probably the flag pole's response to the commander who a month or so back threatened UCMJ action to soldiers who got pregnant [see self inflicted wound] resulting in the loss of personnel with skills creating operational problems.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2010-02-05 21:36  

#10  OP, I hear you about the inconvenience you face - but consider this. Tricare presumably is at least covering those meds that you are able to purchase. This policy is aimed at active duty troops, and especially young enlisted women. My guess is that many commanders will welcome the fact that their medical facilities will have this as an option.
Posted by: lotp   2010-02-05 21:03  

#9  Well, it'll produce somebody's corpse.
Posted by: lotp   2010-02-05 20:57  

#8  Splendid idea Deacon. We'll call it the Wymins Army Corpse.
Posted by: Besoeker   2010-02-05 19:24  

#7  I got an idea, separate the male and female soldiers! Problem solved!
Posted by: Deacon Blues   2010-02-05 19:10  

#6  Please if someone trots out the old abstinence idea I will scream. Please please please lie to yourself and others and espouse that is possible and see how far that gets you.
Posted by: GirlThursday   2010-02-05 17:53  

#5  Umm, Kelly,
To Kelly's "rubbish" comment:

All a female needs to do is pop 3-4 birth control pills at once for the contraceptive effect? How is that rubbish exactly? And what alternative are you proposing? If you're going to pass judgment on the ways things are getting done by our military, by all means propose an alternative and hopefully a realistic one?
Posted by: Omeng Untervehr7419   2010-02-05 17:46  

#4  OP:

An old gentleman carefully hooks his cane on the counter and grimices silently while pulling himself onto the ice cream store stool. Issuing a well deserved sigh, he removes his hat, smiles broadly, and orders a banana split. "Crushed nuts" asks the young waitress. "No" retorts the old man..."arthritis."
Posted by: Besoeker   2010-02-05 17:20  

#3  Yet I have to buy my pain meds on the local economy, because the military pharmacy system only stocks generic, or only stocks certain drugs that don't provide relief for my problems.
Posted by: Old Patriot   2010-02-05 16:40  

#2  The purpose of the military is to close with and destroy the enemy.

Anything else is rubbish.
Posted by: Kelly   2010-02-05 16:21  

#1  If you should experience any of the well documented adverse side effects listed below, skip chow, go on sick call and visit your unit's assigned dispensary immediately:

Adverse side effects include significant weight gain (on average 15 pounds), depression, ovarian cyst enlargement, gallbladder disease, high blood pressure, respiratory disorders,4 increased risk of ectopic pregnancy5 and death. In some women, these serious adverse effects of levonorgestrel-type MAP could lead to further health risks for bulimia, anorexia, or clinical depression.

Our Obama government and the pharmaceutical lobby are working for YOU!

Posted by: Besoeker   2010-02-05 13:38  

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