Will Young Women Have Access to EC?

August 19, 2005

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) promises a decision on over the counter Emergency Contraception by September 1.

After more than two years of foot dragging during negotiations with the makers of the "morning after pill," the FDA once again is promising to issue a decision about emergency contraception (EC). NOW activists and others who support the health and safety of girls and women, have been demanding that the FDA allow the sale of EC without a prescription. We must remind them one more time that their job is to promote and protect our health and safety, not the political whims of their patrons, be they the pharmaceutical industry or the politicians controlling the White House and Congress.

Please contact the FDA today.

Sadly, it appears that the FDA may have already bowed to the severe pressure from the Bush Administration and their right wing, anti-women political partners. It is unlikely that the FDA will support full and private access to EC for all women, and it is rumored that they will impose age restrictions and require young women to present identification before they can purchase this important safeguard. In addition, the access may be "behind the counter," requiring all women to ask for EC and possibly subject themselves to intrusive questions or even actual refusal by the pharmacist.

Contact the FDA and oppose these intrusive requirements.

Background

Emergency contraception (EC) - a strong dose of safe and legal birth control pills - can protect women, young and old, rich and poor, from coerced or unintended pregnancies. Studies have proven EC's effectiveness in safely preventing unwanted pregnancies (and therefore abortions) and have discounted the allegations that EC somehow leads to promiscuity. According to a study published in January, 2005 in the Journal of the American Medical Association, giving women packets of Plan B, a form of emergency contraception also known as the 'morning after pill,' did not lead to an increase in unprotected sex, an increase in pregnancy rates or cause women to forgo regular contraception.

Yet opponents of EC are demanding limitations for young women under 16 - the very age where violent, coerced or unprotected sexual encounters most often occur and can have the greatest lifelong consequences. If the FDA folds under this pressure, it will be a cruel fate for young women forced into pregnancies against their will.

Limiting access to birth control and family planning is part of the anti-women agenda of the right-wing officials and groups who oppose women's full access to health, safety and family formation options. Limiting the availability of EC for young women, and protecting pharmacists who refuse to sell contraceptives, are overt steps toward outlawing personal autonomy and privacy - and indeed outlawing contraception altogether.

Contact the FDA now!

Resources:

• Study: Access to Plan B Does Not Increase Risky Sex
• EC for rape survivors
• Pharmacist's refusal