One Year Anniversary of EC’s over-the-counter status – but the fight ain’t over!

August 24, 2007 marks the one-year anniversary of the FDA's long-delayed decision to approve non-prescription status for emergency contraception (EC, also called the "morning-after pill") for women ages 18 and up. 

While this decision greatly increased the ability of many women to get EC in a timely manner, many women still lack access to emergency birth control:

• EC is still kept behind the counter, and some pharmacies still refuse to carry or dispense birth control
• Young women – those most at risk for unintended pregnancy and with the least access to contraception – must still have a doctor's prescription to get EC
• Women seeking EC must present a government issued ID, making it harder for undocumented women or those with limited mobility to get EC
• Now that EC is non-prescription medicine for most women, most insurers will not cover it.  At $35-$50 per dose, the cost it too high for many, especially low-income women

For more information about EC, read our fact sheet!

NARAL Pro-Choice Wisconsin is hiring interns for this fall!  All applicants must be fully pro-choice and committed to ensuring all women have access to the full range of reproductive health care, including abortion.  Interns must be outgoing, able to work with a wide variety of people, self-motivated, and able to work efficiently and independently.

• Choice Action Team Coordinator - Milwaukee: organize a group of community members that meets regularly to do advocacy in Milwaukee.

• Campus Organizer - Green Bay: act as the leader of a pro-choice student organization on campus by leading fellow students, organizing pro-choice events, and educating the public.

• Communications Intern - Madison: assist with media work as well as write a wide variety of publications, including educational brochures, statewide newsletters, and press releases.

• Development Intern - Madison: complete donor research, lead fundraiser mailings, write fundraising appeals, contact donors via phone, and maintain our financial records.

• Events Intern - Madison: complete donor research, contact donors via phone, and plan fundraising events, including small house parties and our annual Roe v. Wade Celebration and Silent Auction.

• Grassroots Organizing Intern - Madison: recruit and manage volunteers, plan outreach events, table at festivals and fairs, and develop outreach materials.

• Research Assistant - Madison: conduct research on vulnerable state legislators, reproductive rights issues, and proposed legislation.

• Public Policy Assistant - Madison: ensure pro-choice issues are promoted and anti-choice initiatives are stalled during the 2007-2008 legislative session.

To apply, please submit cover letter, one-page resume, and at least two references to Carmen Marg-Patton at Carmen@prochoicewisconsin.org, or fax to 608.287.0176. 

Letters to the Editor *New*

Each month we give you background information on a bill or issue and you can email our interns for sample letters. You can write a letter and send it to your local newspapers, where it may be published and increase media coverage of pro-choice concerns!

This month's subject: Birth Control Protection Act.

The Birth Control Protection Act will:

• Require pharmacists, when presented with a prescription, to dispense birth control without delay.
• Amend the definition of "abortion" to exclude any form of birth control that is FDA-approved.

There is a growing movement in Wisconsin of rogue pharmacists refusing to fill women's legally prescribed birth-control prescriptions. Some pharmacists even go so far as to lecture women, humiliate them in public, or refuse to hand back the prescription after not filling it. Pharmacists have a duty to dispense and have an ethical obligation not to endanger their patients' health by withholding basic health care.

Birth control is basic health care for women.

• 98 percent of women use contraception at some point during their lifetime.
• 43 million women of reproductive age are sexually active and do not want to become pregnant, but could become pregnant if they don't use a contraceptive method.

We'll provide you with sample letters to the editor and information about how to send them to your local papers. Just email communications@prochoicewisconsin.org.

Talking About Choice

Learn how to articulate your pro-choice values. In each newsletter, we will present a typical anti-choice statement, and show you how to effectively respond with the pro-choice facts!

Anti-Choice Myth: If girls who are 11 or 12 are given the HPV vaccine, they will become sexually promiscuous. Besides, girls who behave properly and are abstinent do not need such a vaccine.

Pro-Choice Reality: The HPV vaccine can prevent 70 percent of cervical cancer cases – one of the most common and deadly cancers for women.  To be most effective, the vaccine should be administered before a woman becomes sexually active.  There is no evidence that giving girls and women access to a life-saving vaccine encourages sexual activity.  In fact, giving teens accurate, comprehensive information about their bodies, and about responsible, healthy decision making, is the most effective way to delay teen sexual behavior and help prevent sexually transmitted infections.