Health Care Providers and Advocates Hit the Streets to
Educate Women, Provide Emergency Contraception

Washington, DC – On Wednesday, March 20th, health care providers and advocates across the country will promote greater awareness of emergency contraception (EC) as part of the national Back Up Your Birth Control campaign. The effort – which brings together more than 100 medical groups and advocacy organizations – seeks to encourage women to get a prescription for or a dose of EC to have on hand in order to help reduce the 3 million unintended pregnancies that occur annually in the U.S. From Washington State to North Carolina, more than 30 events are planned to reach women as they go about their daily lives.

Experts believe that widespread awareness and use of emergency contraception has the potential to prevent as many as half of the unintended pregnancies each year. Taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex or birth control failure, FDA-approved methods of EC can reduce the risk of pregnancy by up to 89%. Yet, according to a recent survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, only 2% of American women have used emergency contraception – and most health care providers are not talking to their patients about it as part of their routine contraceptive counseling.

“The goal of Back Up Your Birth Control is to make sure that women and health care providers know about – and talk about – emergency contraception, and to encourage women to get a dose before they need it,” said Kirsten Moore, President of the non-profit Reproductive Health Technologies Project, which is coordinating the campaign. “Given how safe and effective emergency contraception is, there is no reason that women should have to navigate the health care system when the clock is ticking.”

In the weeks leading up to March 20th, momentum in support of EC has been building:

• The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) is encouraging its more than 40,000 members to discuss EC with their patients – and to provide prescriptions for it in advance.
  
  
• Senator Patty Murray (WA) and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY) introduced federal legislation that would allot $10 million for a public education campaign to promote emergency contraception.
  
  
• Bills to improve access to this back-up method of birth control have been introduced in more than a dozen state legislatures.
  
  
• The FDA has extended the shelf life on the two “dedicated” emergency contraception products available by prescription in the U.S. (Preven and Plan B), making it possible for women to keep EC in their medicine cabinets for two years or more.

More information about emergency contraception and the Back Up Your Birth Control campaign can be found at www.backupyourbirthcontrol.org.

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