A legislative committee heard testimony Thursday on a proposal to allow women to get emergency contraception, or “morning-after pills,” without a doctor’s prescription.

The bill’s supporters say trained pharmacists would have the authority to dispense the time-sensitive regimen to women who can’t get to a doctor in time or don’t have a doctor because of lack of insurance.

Critics of the bill say they want to see doctors actively involved in screening patients, and worry that it will be misused by young women. The issue also raises the always-thorny issue of when life begins.

The Legislature’s Business, Research and Economic Development Committee heard testimony Thursday in a public hearing at the State House.

If passed into law, Maine would be the sixth state to make the morning-after pills available over the counter, and Maine’s pharmacists would for the first time have limited power to prescribe.

The Family Planning Association says Washington, the first state to introduce emergency contraception, has had a 30 percent reduction in abortion rates. “The big picture here is it will reduce unintended pregnancies and abortions,” said Nicole Clegg, director of public affairs for the Family Planning Association of Maine. “Here in the state of Maine, 40 percent of unintended pregnancies end in abortion.”

The state’s anti-abortion activists say that using the regimen amounts to abortion.

“It’s a human being at fertilization. It’s a young human life, but it’s a human life,” Richard Traynor, executive director of Maine Right to Life, said before the hearing.

Moral issues surrounding the bill have also alienated some of Maine’s pharmacists, leading the Maine Pharmacy Association to take a neutral position on the legislation.

The Maine Medical Association has not taken a position on the bill but was “generally supportive,” said Ana Bragdon, assistant director of legislative affairs.

Morning-after pills have higher doses of the hormones in regular birth control pills. Taken two at a time, the pills work to prevent ovulation or fertilization within more than 72 hours after sex, though effectiveness declines rapidly with time.

But some research says the pills may also interfere with the implantation of a fertilized egg into the wall of the uterus, the medical definition of pregnancy.

The pills are marketed under the brands Plan B and Preven and cost $20 to $30 a packet. They cannot halt a pregnancy and should not to be confused with RU-486, a pill used to terminate an existing pregnancy.

Emergency contraception is generally recognized as safe, but is not widely used nationally.

In Maine, the Family Planning Association last year dispensed 1,800 doses at its clinics to women, mostly in their early 20s, Clegg said. She said reasons for taking the pill include sexual assault, broken condoms or failure to use contraception.

AP-ES-01-08-04 1710EST