Bloomberg's Plan B


(by mgh)

Mayor Bloomberg reached out to reassure voters of his social progressive credentials last week by promoting increased use of "Plan B" morning-after contraception to reduce the city's 90,000 annual abortions.

Under the mayor's proposal, women could get advance prescriptions from their doctors for the anti-pregnancy pills, which are most effective taken within 24 hours and no more than 3 days after unprotected sex, and keep them on hand in the medicine cabinet "just in case," saving inconvenient or embarrassing emergency trips to the doctor if the time comes.

This proposal distances the mayor from Bush and the religious right's restrictive policies on women's health.

One could disparagingly say this is Bloomberg's own Plan B: if he can't run on a brilliant economy, he'll run as a social progressive. One may ask why he waited three years (or, in his numbers, 270,000 abortions) to finally introduce this plan in an election year. One may also wonder what exactly this $3-million scheme accomplishes, since there seems to be nothing right now that keeps a woman from going to her doctor when there's no emergency, saying "The condom broke last night," and getting an advance prescription on her own: all the new policy saves her is the fib.

But, even I have to give Bloomberg the benefit of the doubt on this one. True, the headliner of his proposal is Plan B, but he is also funding a less flashy and equally important program for women in the South Bronx that provides critical prenatal and infant care. Bloomberg has taken New York a real step forward with these measures — not as far as Canada, which on the same day made Plan B an over-the-counter drug — but it is good to see him setting common-sense policy for a change. Perhaps he should get in touch with his inner Democrat more often. (On the other hand we had another pro-choice mayor recently, named Rudy Giuliani, and no one accused him of being "really a Democrat.")

At this rate, next fall we may see a mayoral race between a Republican running as a social progressive and a Democrat running as a pro-business tax-cutter.

Call that one, "Plan 9... from Outer Space."

Posted: Mon - April 25, 2005 at 12:48 PM   | Category:     |   |   | |


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