yay for massachusetts!

Yesterday, the Massachusetts Legislature easily overrode Governor Mitt Romney's veto of the emergency contraception legislation that came before him last month.

Not being a voting resident of Massachusetts, why would I care about this, you ask?
For a couple reasons. First and foremost, Romney's veto came shortly after "my" governor's (Pataki - NY) veto on very similar legislation regarding EC. The two governors vetoed for similar reasons as well: both are under pressure from "pro-life" constituency to further the "pro-life" agenda; Pataki because the asshole wants to run for prez, and Romney because he claims (unlike every other politician) that he wants to make good on his campaign promises of not changing the state's abortion laws.
Second, I care because now that I'm a student in Massachusetts, I'll no doubt make friends who would need to have access to EC, even if I in my lesbian non-sexedness don't. (That is, if I ever make any straight or boy-loving-bi friends here at Smith, which I have yet to do...)


Senator Pamela P. Resor:
"Not only was his veto irresponsible, his argument was based on weak and misguided information."

Plus, the legislation went one further, and now requires all Massachusetts hospitals to offer EC to rape victims, which will actually only affect the 12 of the 71 state's hospitals that currently do not.


So, today, I give a big ol' high five to the Massachusetts legislature, and hope that the NY legislature follows its lead (even though I haven't heard anything about overriding Patasski's veto from over in the empire state yet...).