Current GOP front-runner Mitt Romney is receiving some blowback from pro-life organizations over a proposed fundraiser to be held at the home of pharma executive Phil Frost.
Frost is chairman of the board of Teva Pharmaceuticals, which manufactures contraceptive pills including the controversial Plan B One-Step, reports The Daily Caller.
Plan B One-Step effectively stops a woman’s egg from getting fertilized. However, there has been much talk about its other action to potentially stop an already fertilized egg from attaching to the reproductive tract, as NPR reports.
The CEO of Concerned Women for America told The Daily Caller that she doubts the fundraiser — a $50,000-per-plate event scheduled for May 16 at Frost’s posh Star Island estate in Miami — will even take place once the connection is made. “I would be shocked if, after they are aware of the fact that this guy is the chairman of Teva Pharmaceuticals, that they go forward with this fundraiser.”
Many pro-life and tea party groups were anxious to end taxpayer support for such contraception, and the implication of a Romney-Teva fundraiser raised the hackles of some conservatives, though some see it as a necessary evil. The president of CatholicVote.org, Brian Burch, told The Daily Caller that “What matters is whether a President Romney will end all taxpayer support for abortion-inducing drugs, repeal unconstitutional mandates that force private institutions to cover such drugs, and whether he will make progress in building a culture of life. We are confident that Mitt Romney is committed to these goals.”
In February 2011, Teva Women’s Health Inc. sought approval from the FDA for Plan B One-Step, to make it available to women of all ages. The FDA was prepared to move forward with the plan, but the Department of Health and Human Services overruled that decision, possibly due to overwhelming opposition by conservative women’s groups and religious organizations.
Plan B One-Step is available at pharmacies without need for a doctor’s permission, but access is restricted, behind pharmacy counters, to females over the age of 17. Women aged 16 and younger must still provide a doctor’s written prescription to obtain the medication.
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