"An Open Letter About Emergency Contraception"

Katha Pollitt and Jennifer Baumgardner, The Nation

The one thing that activists on every side of the abortion debate
agree on is that we should reduce the number of unwanted pregnancies.
There are 3 million unintended pregnancies each year in the United
States; around 1.4 million of them end in abortion.

Yet the best tool for reducing unwanted pregnancies has only been
used by 2 percent of all adult women in the United States and only 11
percent of us know enough about it to be able to use it. No, we
aren't talking about abstinence--we mean something that works!The tool is EC, which stands for Emergency Contraception (and is also
known as the Morning After Pill).

For thirty years, doctors have dispensed EC "off label" in the form
of a handful of daily birth control pills. Meanwhile, many women have
taken matters into their own hands by popping a handful themselves
after one of those nights -- you know, when the condom broke or the
diaphragm slipped or for whatever reason you had unprotected sex.

Preven (on the market since 1998) and Plan B (approved in 1999), the
dedicated forms of EC, operate essentially as a higher-dose version
of the Pill, compressed into two tablets. The first dose is taken
within 72 hours after unprotected sex, the second pill is taken 12
hours later. EC is at least 75 percent effective in preventing an
unwanted pregnancy after sex by interrupting ovulation,
fertilization, and implantation of the egg.

If you are sexually active, or even if you're not right now, you
should have a dose of EC on hand. It's less anxiety-producing than
waiting around to see if you miss your period; much easier, cheaper
and more pleasant than having to arrange for a surgical abortion if
you end up pregnant and don't want to be.

These websites will help you find an EC provider in your area:

backupyourbirthcontrol

not-2-late

providers

Don't wait until you're in a crisis. Your doctor may not be able to
see you in time, and other doctors may not want to deal with
walk-ins. Many clinics and doctor's offices are closed on weekends
and holidays--the most likely times for unprotected sex. If you live
in a rural area, the logistical difficulties--finding the doctor,
finding the pharmacy that stocks EC--are compounded. Plan ahead!

Forward this information to anyone you think may not know about
backing up her birth control and print out the info in this e-mail if
you want to organize as part of the EC campaign (or do your own thing
and let us know about it). Let's make sure we have access to our own
hard-won sexual and reproductive freedom!

Seven Things You Need to Know About Emergency Contraception

* EC is easy. A woman takes a dose of EC within 72 hours of
unprotected sex, followed by a second dose 12 hours later.

* EC is legal.

* EC is safe. It is FDA-approved and supported by the American
College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical
Women's Association

* EC is not an abortion. The two pills you take are not RU-486, the
abortion pill, which can be taken up to nine weeks into a pregnancy.
EC does not work if you are already pregnant and will not harm a
developing fetus. Anti-choicers who call EC "the abortion pill" or
"chemical abortion" also believe birth control pills, IUDs and
contraceptive injections are abortions.

* EC works. It is at least 75 percent effective in preventing an
unwanted pregnancy after sex, but before either fertilization or
implantation. According to the FDA, EC pills "are not effective if
the woman is pregnant; they act primarily by delaying or inhibiting
ovulation, and/or by altering tubal transport of sperm and/or ova
(thereby inhibiting fertilization), and/or altering the endometrium
(thereby inhibiting implantation)."

* EC has a long shelf life. You can keep your EC on hand for two
years, according to the FDA.

* EC is for women who use birth control. You should back up your
birth control by keeping a dose of EC in your medicine cabinet or
purse.

What You Can Do to Help

Forward this e-mail to everyone you know. Post it on lists,
especially those with lots of women and girls. Print out this
information, photocopy it to make instant leaflets and pass them
around your community. Call your healthcare provider, clinic or
university health service and ask if they provide EC. Spread the word
in your community if they do. Lobby them (via petitions, meetings
with the administrators, op-eds) to offer EC if they don't.

Make sure that your local ER has EC on hand for rape victims and
dispenses it as a matter of policy to women who have been assaulted.
Many hospitals, including most Catholic hospitals, do not dispense EC
even to rape victims.

Get in touch with local organizations--Planned Parenthood, NOW,
NARAL, campus groups--and work with them to pressure hospitals to
amend their policies.

If you can't find a group, start your own. Local activism can achieve wonders.

If you are a writer, submit an op-ed to your local paper. Writer or
not, send letters to the editor about EC. You can key your letters to
particular stories--or request that stories be written.

Make sure that your local pharmacy will fill prescriptions for EC.
Some states have "conscience-clauses" that exempt pharmacists from
dispensing drugs that have to do with women's reproductive freedom.

Birth Control Pills That Can Be Used in the United States as EC


Trivora (4 pink tablets)


Alesse (5 pink tablets)


Levlite (5 pink tablets)


Nordette (4 light orange tablets)


Lo/Ovral (4 white tablets)


Levlen (4 light orange tablets)


Levora (4 white tablets)


Low-Ogestrel (4 white tablets)


Tri-Levlen (4 yellow tablets)


Triphasil (4 yellow tablets)