The following highlights recent news of state actions on women's health issues.

• Maryland: State legislative committees on Wednesday heard testimony about bills (HB 1, SB 144) that would provide $125 million in funding over five years for human embryonic stem cell research, the Washington Post reports (Wagner, Washington Post, 1/26). The embryonic stem cell research bills, sponsored by state Sen. Paula Hollinger (D) and state Del. Samuel Rosenberg (D), would require the legislature to appoint a committee of science and business leaders to distribute $25 million annually in state funds beginning in fiscal year 2008 for embryonic stem cell research projects through the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (Ward, Washington Times, 1/26). The state Senate minority leader said Republicans would be more contented with Gov. Robert Ehrlich's (R) proposal to include $20 million for stem cell research in next year's budget. State Senate Minority Leader J. Lowell Stoltzfus (R) said Republican leaders are "going to be as aggressive as we can to kill" the embryonic stem cell research proposal because the research involves the destruction of human embryos. Ehrlich's proposal would provide $20 million in the 2007 budget for any type of stem cell research projects -- which could include use of embryonic, adult or umbilical cord stem cells -- that is approved by the governor-appointed 15-member board of the Maryland Technology Development Corporation (Washington Post, 1/26).
  


• Missouri: Some Democratic and Republican lawmakers on Tuesday proposed legislation aimed at preventing unplanned pregnancies by promoting increased access to emergency contraception -- which can prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sexual intercourse -- and family planning services, the AP/Springfield News-Leader reports. The House bill (HB 1520), sponsored by state Rep. Robin Wright Jones (D), and Senate bill (SB 943), sponsored by state Sen. Joan Bray (D), collectively are known as the Missouri Prevention First Act and would require pharmacists to dispense prescriptions for EC. The measures also would require emergency department staff to inform rape survivors about the contraceptive, as well as provide the drug if it is requested. If the measures pass, health care facilities that refuse to comply would be fined. In addition, the legislation would reinstate a family planning and women's health program that in recent years was removed from the budget (Scher Zagier, AP/Springfield News-Leader, 1/24).
  


• South Dakota: South Dakota legislators are set to consider two measures that seek to set regulations on sex education in public schools, the AP/Aberdeen American News reports. State Rep. Roger Hunt (R) on Tuesday proposed a measure (HB1217) that would provide guidelines for school districts to create a sex education curriculum that would focus on abstinence. If passed, the measure would require schools that offer sex education classes not to promote or provide information about the use of contraceptive drugs, devices or methods. A second bill, (SB 196) proposed on Tuesday by state Sen. Stan Adelstein (D), would require schools to offer sex education courses that emphasize abstinence but also provide age-appropriate and medically accurate information, including information on contraception, for public school students in grades six through eight. The bill also would mandate that sex education programs teach students that abstinence is the only guaranteed method of avoiding pregnancy and STD transmission but would teach the risks and benefits of various contraceptive methods (Brokaw, AP/Aberdeen American News, 1/24).