By Bill Raack, KWMU
St. Louis, MO. – Several women's groups in Missouri are upset with comments made by Governor Matt Blunt about the so-called "morning after pill".
Blunt told an audience at the Missouri Baptist Convention last month that he would push for legislation protecting pharmacists who refuse to fill such "Plan B" prescriptions.
Stacey Newman, with the Coalition Against War on Women, says the governor is wrong about the morning after pill
"He is putting out information, especially in the press, contending that it could halt an early pregnancy, which is completely and totally untrue, Newman said. What Plan B is is a high dose of birth control. If you are pregnant, you remain pregnant. It does not halt a pregnancy.
But Blunt spokesman Spence Jackson says the governor believes that the morning after pill is a form of abortion.
"He wants to work with the general assembly in the next legislative session to draft laws that give pharmacists what are called conscience protection laws, really, to protect them from having to fill those kind of prescriptions that can be used to abort an unborn child, Jackson said.
He says pharmacists should be allowed to turn down Plan B prescriptions on moral grounds.