Patty Murray quips about Boehner, 'Plan B' birth control

Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) quipped Thursday about Speaker John Boehner's (R-Ohio) "Plan B" tax bill, which shares its name with a popular brand of emergency contraception.

"I actually got really excited when I heard Speaker Boehner tracking up 'Plan B' because I thought, 'Finally, they've made progress on a really important women's health issue that I've been working on,'" Murray said Thursday at a press conference.

"That was not the case," Murray said to laughs. 

Expanded access to emergency contraception is among the objections to President Obama's birth control coverage rule, which requires most employers to cover the pill or pills in their health plans.

"Plan B" works to prevent pregnancy in the days after unprotected sex by stopping ovulation and inhibiting the movement of sperm.

For years, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has also said that the drug might prevent a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterus for an outcome some consider equal to abortion.

Medical authorities have called this understanding outdated and scientifically incorrect, and cite clinical studies showing Plan B has no effect on fertilized eggs before or after implantation to the womb.

The debate grew louder when the Obama administration released its birth control coverage rules under the healthcare law.

The new policy requires most employers to cover a range of birth-control methods, including the so-called "morning-after pill," in their health plans without cost-sharing.

More than 100 plaintiffs have now filed suit to block the mandate on the grounds of their religious objections to abortion.

Murray is a staunch supporter of the Obama policy.

"Improving access to birth control is good health policy and good economic policy. It will mean healthier women, healthier children and healthier families. It will save money for businesses and consumers," Murray wrote in a February op-ed with Sens. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Jeanne Shaheen (D-N.H.). 

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