The University Student Health Center will continue to issue prescriptions for emergency contraceptives despite calls from Del. Robert Marshall R-Manassas urging the Center to discontinue prescribing the medication.
James Madison University's Board of Visitors voted Friday to prohibit the distribution of the medicine, commonly referred to as the "morning after pill," at the school's student health center. A letter from Marshall to JMU President Linwood H. Rose prompted the decision.
"I don't see why we have to subsidize something some social engineer feels is good," Marshall said. "We need limits. We don't subsidize body piercing for college students."
Marshall also recently sent a letter to University President John T. Casteen III and said he plans to write similar letters to all Virginia colleges and universities that make such drugs available to their students.
"Parents do not send their children to college to engage in this sort of activity," Marshall said.
Marshall's letter and the decision by the JMU Board, however, will have no impact on University policies or the process of University policymaking, according to University and student health officials.
"We don't act on delegates writing letters," University Board member William Goodwin said.
He asserted the Board only makes decisions after careful consideration and discussion, not at the prompting of a state elected official.
The University Student Health Center has provided prescriptions for emergency contraceptives, which can be filled at the University pharmacy, since 1988, said Christine Peterson, director of gynecology at Student Health. The cost of the medication is not subsidized by public funds.
Peterson said about 200 students enter the center annually in need of the pill, a rate that has stayed constant for the last five years.
Occasionally cases involve acquaintance rape or sex while intoxicated in which the issue of consent is uncertain. However, a majority of cases result because other forms of birth control may have failed, such as a condom breaking or falling off, Peterson said.
She said she believes university or college officials are out of place when trying to intervene in medical decisions.
"I was very disappointed a board of visitors would see fit to interfere with medical practice," Peterson said. "It's imposing a religious viewpoint on medical practices"
Peterson said she thought a ban by the University Board of Visitors, similar to ban on the Harrisonburg campus, is highly unlikely. Only through a gross over extension of its powers would the Board be able to enact such a change since the University pharmacy is a fully licensed pharmacy attached to the University Hospital, Peterson said.
Lauren Russo, vice president National Organization for Women at U.Va, said Marshall's demand and the JMU Board's decision show a lack of concern for the well-being of students.
"It is problematic for the [JMU] Board of Visitors to take a political issue and transform it into one that deals with an individual's health and their healthcare choices," Russo said.
Russo also said she fears further restrictions on other health options for women, part of a broader reproach on women's health that Marshall's insistence demonstrates.
"If he wants to outlaw this type of birth control, then what is next? Regular birth control?" Russo said. "That's scary."
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