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SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Republican U.S. Rep. Mia Love told Utah lawmakers on Thursday that she's sponsoring a bill that would allow women to get over-the-counter birth control pills even though she's opposed to abortion.
Love told Utah's state House of Representatives that she feels it's her duty to protect life but it's not her job to tell people how to plan their families. She said she hopes her proposal will make it easier for more women to have access to birth control.
"We have to give our women as many choices as possible before they get to the point where they don't have any choices," she said.
Later in the day, Love detailed her proposal to the Utah Senate.
Love's legislation allowing women to get contraception pills without a prescription was introduced in early January. It has not yet had a hearing in Congress.
She sponsored a similar bill last year, but it didn't make it out of committee.
The Salt Lake Tribune reported last month that Love gave an emotional speech at an anti-abortion rally about her parents deciding not to abort her, saying it would have been easier for her mom to have had the procedure.
Lawmakers in this Republican-filled Utah Legislature did not ask Love any questions about the plan and did not appear to react strongly to her comments.
Republican legislators in other states have backed similar proposals.
In 2014, then-U.S. Rep. Cory Gardner, a Republican from Colorado, proposed making birth control pills available without a prescription, the same as aspirin.
The following year, former Republican Sen. Kelly Ayotte of New Hampshire, sponsored a bill that would provide incentives for birth control manufacturers to file with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to move their products over-the-counter.
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