[ACLU-NM] ACLU Promotes Awareness of Emergency Contraception on Third Annual "Back Up Your Birth Control Day"

[Kimberly Lavender]

ACLU Promotes Awareness of Emergency Contraception on Third Annual “Back Up
Your Birth Control Day”

Statement of Louise Melling, Director
ACLU Reproductive Freedom Project
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Monday, March 22, 2004

NEW YORK -- The American Civil Liberties Union is proud to join a broad
coalition of medical groups and women’s health advocates today, the third
annual “Back Up Your Birth Control Day,” to raise awareness about Emergency
Contraception (EC).



If taken within days of unprotected intercourse, EC, often referred to as
“the morning after pill,” reduces the risk of pregnancy by as much as 89
percent.  Researchers estimate that in 2000 alone, use of this back-up birth
control option prevented more than 50,000 abortions.



In recent years, advocates across the country have been working to build
awareness, change policy, and increase access to EC.  ACLU affiliates and
others, for example, have been surveying hospitals in their states to
determine if local emergency departments routinely provide EC to rape
survivors.  This research shows that in many states fewer than 50 percent of
hospitals do so.  Fortunately, because of the efforts of women’s health
advocates, the landscape is changing.



Four states – California, New Mexico, New York, and Washington – recently
passed legislation to ensure that hospitals provide EC to rape survivors.
And in other states, advocates are working to change hospital policy.



In addition, five states – Alaska, California, Hawaii, New Mexico, and
Washington – currently have policies allowing women to obtain EC directly
from their pharmacists.  And this year, a Food and Drug Administration
advisory panel of experts overwhelmingly recommended that the FDA grant
over-the-counter status to Plan B, a particular brand of EC, which would
make this back-up contraceptive more readily accessible to more women when
they need it.  The FDA is expected to make a final decision on this issue
later this spring.



>From New York to New Mexico and from Pennsylvania to Washington, ACLU
affiliates across the country are doing their part today to educate women
about EC through action alerts, media outreach, and campus advertising and
tabling.



This April 25th, we also have the unique opportunity to show our broad
support for contraceptive access and reproductive rights at the March for
Women’s Lives in Washington, DC.  True reproductive freedom means access to
the full range of reproductive health services, including access to EC,
affordable family planning, abortion, prenatal care, and childbearing
assistance.



Sign-up today to march with the ACLU and thousands of other organizations as
we protect the rights of all women to decide, free from government
interference, whether or not to have a child.

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Kimberly Lavender
Public Education Coordinator, ACLU-NM
PO Box 80915
Albuquerque, NM 87198
www.aclu-nm.org




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