Women’s Health Advocates Urge Pharmacies To Stock “Back-Up Birth Control”
As FDA Drags Its Feet on Making Plan B Available Over the Counter

Activities in Dozens of States Will Promote Access To Emergency Contraception
To Give More Women A “Second Chance” To Prevent Pregnancy

WASHINGTON, DC – On Tuesday, March 22, a coalition of more than 100 women’s health and medical organizations will hold events in dozens of states coast-to-coast to promote timely access to Plan B, often referred to as the “morning-after pill.” The fourth annual Back Up Your Birth Control day of action comes just two months after the Food and Drug Administration missed its deadline to decide if Plan B should be sold without a prescription – a move supported by the nation’s leading medical and public health organizations and the FDA’s own independent experts. With the over-the-counter application stuck in limbo, women’s health advocates are using creative tactics to make sure women can get emergency contraception by prescription – from urging drug stores to stock Plan B and training pharmacists about it to offering emergency contraception at discount rates and informing women where they can get it. Plan B is highly effective at reducing the risk of pregnancy, but only if used within the first few days after unprotected sex or contraceptive failure – and the sooner it’s taken, the better it works.

“Time is of the essence with emergency contraception, yet women who need back-up birth control too often find that their pharmacist can’t or won’t fill their prescriptions,” said Kirsten Moore, President of the Reproductive Health Technologies Project. “Given the risks of unintended pregnancy and its impact on women’s lives, every pharmacy should stock Plan B just like they do other important drugs like antibiotics, inhalers, and blood pressure pills.”

This week, women’s health advocates in a host of diverse states (CO, CT, FL, IN, ME, MA, MI, NM, NY, PA, TX, VA, WA, and WI) will go to local drug stores to find out if they stock Plan B and educate pharmacists about the importance of filling prescriptions for this back-up birth control method. Six years after the FDA approved Plan B as a safe, effective way to prevent pregnancy after sex, research and women’s own experience show that many pharmacies still do not carry emergency contraception.

Studies conducted in states ranging from Arizona to New York to Pennsylvania show that a significant proportion of pharmacies do not have Plan B on hand – making it difficult for women to get back-up birth control in time for it to work. When taken within 72 hours after sex, Plan B reduces the risk of pregnancy by 89 percent – and the odds of preventing pregnancy are even greater when it’s used in the first 24 hours.

There is also a small but growing effort by some pharmacists to simply refuse to fill prescriptions for back-up birth control. Women in nearly a dozen states have reported being denied emergency contraception by pharmacists who cited “moral” objections – even though the product contains the same hormones as daily birth control pills. (Emergency contraception prevents pregnancy like other oral contraceptives and doesn’t work if a woman is already pregnant; it shouldn’t be confused with the medical abortion drug, mifepristone or RU-486.) A pharmacist’s decision to prevent a woman from getting back-up birth control – by not filling her prescription and/or failing to help her find an alternative pharmacist – runs counter to the positions of the nation’s leading medical professional societies, including the American Pharmacists Association.

In addition to pharmacy visits, activities and events planned around the country this week will bolster other on-going emergency contraception initiatives. Health care providers in states such as Maine, New Mexico, Virginia, and Wisconsin will encourage women to get prescriptions in advance, while advocates in states such as Massachusetts, Minnesota, and New York will lobby for legislation that improves awareness of and access to back-up birth control. The Prevention First Act, now pending in the U.S. Congress, includes provisions to fund educating women and health care providers about back-up birth control and to ensure that emergency contraception is available in emergency rooms. At the state level, ten states are considering legislation to ensure that EC is offered to sexual assault victims (provisions already adopted in CA, IL, NM, NY, SC and WA). In addition, bills to permit pharmacists to prescribe EC directly to women are pending in nine states (an option already in place in AK, CA, HI, ME, NM, and WA).

Experts estimate that widespread awareness and use of emergency contraception could prevent as many as half of the 3 million unintended pregnancies that occur each year in the U.S., including up to 700,000 pregnancies that now result in abortion. In 2000, this back-up birth control method is believed to have prevented as many as 50,000 abortions, even though only 2% of women reported having ever used emergency contraception. As of 2003, only 6% of American women said they had used back-up birth control at some point in their lives.

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