| Dear Journalist, Wouldn’t it be unthinkable for a pharmacy not to stock inhalers...or antibiotics...or blood pressure medication…or any other prescription drug Americans rely on to improve their health and well-being? Too often, women are finding that’s true for emergency contraception, the back-up birth control method that can prevent pregnancy when taken in the first few days after sex. It’s been almost six years since the FDA approved Plan B, the dedicated emergency contraceptive product currently on the market in the U.S. Now the FDA has indefinitely postponed a decision on whether Plan B should be made available over-the-counter – a move supported by the nation’s leading medical and public health organizations and the FDA’s own independent experts. But until that happens, women still need a prescription for emergency contraception – and that means going to the pharmacy. Research and women’s own experience show that many pharmacies don’t carry Plan B – often because they don’t know about it or understand how it works. There is also a small but growing effort among some pharmacists to refuse to fill women’s EC prescriptions for “moral” reasons – even though this back-up birth control method just contains the same hormones as daily birth control pills. However, time is of the essence with emergency contraception. If taken within 72 hours, Plan B can reduce the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 percent. And the sooner it’s taken, the better it works. That’s why the Back Up Your Birth Control campaign is mobilizing thousands of activists around the country to educate women, men, legislators, doctors, and pharmacists about what EC is (and is not), how to use it, and where to get it. This nationwide campaign – coordinated by the Institute for Reproductive Health, NARAL Pro-Choice New York, and a coalition of hundreds of national and local medical organizations and women's health advocates – is committed to increasing public awareness and improving access to EC to give more women a second chance to prevent an unintended pregnancy in the case of contraceptive failure or unwanted or unprotected sex. Many American women still don’t know about emergency contraception. Surveys show that surprising numbers of women don’t even realize that EC is available here in the U.S. Or they are confused about how it works. And only six percent have ever used it. Still, researchers estimate that emergency contraception prevented more than 50,000 abortions in 2000, and has enormous but unfulfilled potential to make a real impact on unintended pregnancy. For more information about emergency contraception or the Back Up Your Birth Control campaign, visit www.backupyourbirthcontrol.org. There you will find:
If you would like to speak to a representative of
the coalition, or if you have any questions, contact Destiny Lopez
at 415-285-1377. Sincerely, |