>[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]
Yes, good to get the info out there. But.
>If you live in a rural area, the
>logistical difficulties--finding the doctor, finding the pharmacy that
>stocks EC--are compounded. Plan ahead!
Let's demand a little more here, folks. Women shouldn't have to 'plan ahead!' It's on political grounds, not medical ones, that the morning after pill still requires a prescription. In France they hand it out in bars, for chrissake. The MAP doesn't have the more dangerous side-effects related to consistent birth control pill usage (blood clotting and liver tumors, for example, are related to longer-term usage--the MAP is by definition short-term.) I believe even the AMA now advocates that it be available over-the-counter. Nausea is a common side effect, but many women take it and have no nausea.
The prescription requirement is huge obstacle. First, you can't go to a 24-hour drug store and get it--and the sooner you use it the more effective it is. If you're under 18, getting to a clinic or doctor and then filling the scrip are more hurdles. Then there are the anti-abortion medical staff who won't prescribe it. At the University of Florida, the Campus NOW chapter and Gainesville Women's Liberation have engaged off and on for over a decade trying to make the Morning After Pill truly available at the on-campus infirmary.
Protests around '92 forced the UF administration to fire a pharmacist who refused to fill prescriptions for it (he objected on religious grounds--the egg, although it has not implanted, still has that magical combo of sperm & ovum that make it, well, a protectorate of the Holy See.) Even after they fired him, various anti-abortion docs, PAs and nurse practitioners refused to prescribe it. They were supposed to call in another doctor, but that system never worked, according to women who tried to get the MAP.
Then we found out the infirmary was asking all kinds of irritating and or deterring written questions, such as 'was it rape?' 'were you using birth control?' and made you sign the questionnaire promising you'll be a good girl from now on and not fail to use contraceptives again. (Implying that you can't get the MAP again if you need it, and also implying that you're being irresponsible not to have used other contraceptives--duh, we're here taking responsibility--asking you for the friggin' pill). After much protest, leafletting, speaking out, exposures in the newspaper, marches and repeated presentations of demands, the infirmary now proudly advertises that they provide it, giving no credit to the feminists, of course.
Jenny Brown (wearing my Gainesville Women's Liberation hat)