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Three years ago, the Catholic Health Association, whose members run hospitals and nursing homes across the country, backed passage of the federal health law. The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, which represents the hierarchy of the church, opposed it. The groups remain divided over the law's requirement for most employer-based health insurance plans to provide women with contraceptives.
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Under final regulations issued Friday, most employers will have to provide contraception — at no charge to their employees — as part of their health insurance plans. There are exceptions for religious groups and alternatives for their affiliated organizations.
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The long battle for federal approval of Plan B emergency contraception appears to be over. But broader access to the medicine may not reduce the number of unintended pregnancies by much.
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The bill would put family-planning clinics at the bottom of the list for funding. Even those clinics that do not perform abortions but offer referrals expect a major financial blow. Proponents of the measure are clear in their goal: end abortions. But how will it affect other women's health services?
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The morning-after pill for emergency contraception was first approved by the FDA way back in 1999. Since then, activists have been fighting with two administrations to allow over-the-counter sales to women and teenagers. Now, after a long legal fight, the agency has agreed. We put together a timeline to recap the saga.
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Women and teenagers should soon be able to buy emergency contraception with no age restrictions, according to a federal district judge's memorandum. But the Obama administration's plan will put just one brand-name formulation of the "morning after" pill on store shelves.
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The Obama administration's move to drop opposition to over-the-counter sales of emergency contraception is pleasing no one. It proposes making just one brand-name form available to all ages without a prescription.
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The administration had been trying to appeal a judge's ruling to make the morning-after birth control pill available over the counter with no age restrictions. The Justice Department said it would obey the order — sort of. The FDA may soon approve the over-the-counter sale of Plan B One Step without a prescription.
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In a surprise move, a federal appeals court ruled that some "morning after" contraceptives must be made available without prescriptions now, even though the federal government is in the midst of appealing a lower court ruling that would make the pills widely available.
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Iin denying the government's motion for a stay, U.S. District Court Judge Korman, who has overseen the case since 2005, also laid out several substantive problems with the situation that last week's approval by the Food and Drug Administration created.