Breaking News on Emergency Contraception

I have huge news!

After years of struggling to make sure women serving in the military overseas have access to emergency contraception, the Department of Defense has just approved a policy that would guarantee access!

This policy shift from the Defense Department is a major victory for women's health and women's rights, and will help the 350,000 women who serve in the military or depend on military facilities for health care.

Until now, if a woman serving in the military stationed overseas is raped, there's a good chance she won't be able to get emergency birth control that can prevent a pregnancy, simply because the base's health facilities don't stock it.

What could only make this situation even worse is the fact that anti-choice politicians have fought for years to keep it that way.

It's probably not surprising that the Bush administration is to blame. In 2002, the Department of Defense issued the same recommendation that it did today, but then-President Bush's political appointees overruled it without explanation.

To add insult to injury, anti-choice groups like Concerned Women for America and Family Research Council, along with members of Congress who oppose birth control like anti-choice Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak from Michigan, have since opposed efforts by members of Congress to fix this problem.

Fortunately, unlike his predecessor, President Obama supports the decisions of medical experts and policy recommendations based on science-not politics.

Now we just need to make sure that anti-choice ideologues don't threaten military women's access to emergency contraception again. Send Secretary of Defense Robert Gates a quick note supporting the policy and urging him to stand behind it.

NARAL Pro-Choice America has been fighting to change this outrageous unacceptable policy for years. In just the past few months, we worked with Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) and Rep. Michael Michaud (D-Maine) to introduce the Compassionate Care for Servicewomen Act. This bill was a legislative response to the political interference during the Bush era.