[PEN-L:30135] Re: Emergency contraception

[joanna bujes <joanna.bujes@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Thanks much.

Joanna

At 12:03 PM 09/08/2002 -0400, you wrote:
> [Dear friends and colleagues, please forward
> the following very usual information by Katha Pollitt and Jennifer
> Baumgardner on EC (emergency contraception) to all...but
> especially young people.  Many thanks, Diane]
>
>
>
> Date: Sun, 08 Sep 2002 11:15:53 -0400
> From: Katha Pollitt <kpollitt@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: Emergency contraception
> :
> To: jan.cohen.cruz@xxxxxxx, dhenwood@xxxxxxxxx,
> nancymc@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
>  alevine@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, szuzsi1@xxxxxxx,
> lpurring@xxxxxxxxxxxxx,
>  dmonaco@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, bob@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, Pyorkin@xxxxxxx,
>  ritahj@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, antonino@xxxxxxxxxxx,
> openmind@xxxxxxxx,
>  mcooper@xxxxxxxxxxxxx, jon_wiener@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
> dacor@xxxxxxx,
>  marilyn hacker <110165.74@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
> arthur@xxxxxxxxxxxxx,
>  mia@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, rose@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx,
> roni_web@xxxxxxxxx,
>  gabrielle_engh@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx, angier58@xxxxxxxxxxx,
> CHanauer@xxxxxxx,
>  Susan Bordo <bordo@xxxxxxx>
> :
> :
> An Open Letter About Emergency Contraception
> by Katha Pollitt  and Jennifer Baumgardner
>
>
> 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:
>
> www.backupyourbirthcontrol.org
>
> www.not-2-late.com
>
> ec.princeton.edu/providers/index.html
>
> 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
>
>
> &#167; EC is easy. A woman takes a dose of EC within 72 hours
> of
> unprotected sex, followed by a second dose 12 hours later.
>
> &#167; EC is legal.
>
> &#167; EC is safe. It is FDA-approved and supported by the
> American
> College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the American Medical
> Women's Association
>
> &#167; 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.
>
> &#167; 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)."
>
> &#167; EC has a long shelf life. You can keep your EC on hand for
> two
> years, according to the FDA.
>
> &#167; 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)