In this Alert:
1. A new bill in Congress would put MAP "behind-the-counter" by
putting into law an age restriction that would mean ALL women have to
show ID to get this perfectly safe form of birth control. We demand
a new bill or an amendment that would make MAP over-the-counter for
ALL women!
2. Government Accountability Office releases their report on the
FDA's unusual handling of MAP decision.
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1. Bill HR 4229 would make an age restriction for Morning-After Pill
-- we demand an amendment!
(See our position paper "FDA tries to divide women by age to deny us
our rights" on why behind-the-counter is an insult to ALL women:
http://www.mapconspiracy.org/jenny.html)
A bill has been introduced into Congress that would make the
Morning-After Pill (MAP) available ONLY to women 16 and older. The
age restriction is not only insulting and oppressive to young women
who want to control their reproduction; it forces all women to be
carded for a perfectly safe form of birth control. Not only is this
medically unnecessary but it only serves to put women’s reproductive
decisions in someone else’s hands. Why should a pharmacist or anyone
else have control over our access to MAP?
This bill, while well intentioned by those who sponsor it, would be
dangerous to our campaign to get MAP over-the-counter for ALL women.
We have opposed the age limit since the FDA first introduced it in
2004. If we are old enough to be pregnant, we are old enough to
decide we don't want to be pregnant. Putting an age limit on the law
books would be hard to undo.
If your representative supports this bill we urge you to call them
and ask for an amendment or a new bill that would make the
Morning-After Pill available to all women without a prescription,
regardless of age. (See list and contact info at the bottom of this
e-mail.)
If your representative is not on the list, please call the sponsor of
the bill, congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (NY) (212) 860-0606.
Our representatives need to know that while we support their efforts
to gain women greater access to MAP, we won't settle for anything
less than unrestricted access to the Morning-After Pill for ALL
women.
Read the full text of the bill at
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/query
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2. Government Accountability Office releases report confirming FDA
process "unusual" for MAP.
The independent investigative arm of congress, the Government
Accountability Office (GAO) published its findings on the FDA
rejection and persistent delay of the Morning-After Pill (Plan B)
over-the-counter status. Their findings show that the FDA acted in a
manner that clearly shows their influence from conservatives. The
report condemns the FDA for not basing the decision on scientific
evidence, but instead allowing conservative politics to cloud the
issue.
The GAO report sites "unusual" decision-making:
--Conflicting accounts of whether the decision was made months before
scientific reviews were completed.
--Unusual involvement from high-ranking agency officials.
--Three FDA directors who normally would have been responsible for
signing off on the decision did not do so because they disagreed with
it.
--From 1994 to 2004, F.D.A. advisory committees reviewed 23
applications to switch drugs from prescription to over-the-counter
status. Plan B was the only one of those 23 in which the agency went
against the committee's advice.
As a result of this report, 18 Congressional lawmakers have signed a
letter of outrage stating their "deep opposition to this subversion
of science" to Mike Leavitt, Health and Human Services Secretary. The
letter urges Leavitt, who oversees the FDA, to assure that the pill's
reconsideration be based on "best available science instead of
ideology."
The Morning-After Pill (MAP) is currently in a state of limbo, the
decision being indefinitely postponed while more "public comment" is
gathered. Citing this last delay, Susan Wood, then director of the
FDA Office of Women's Health, resigned, saying that the agency's
willingness to ignore science in the service of abortion politics has
"only gotten worse."
Read the full report, http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d06109.pdf
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**Co-Sponsors of HR 4229 (listed by State)
[AZ-7] Rep Raul M. Grijalva (520) 622-6788, DC (202) 225-2435
[CA-14] Rep Anna G. Eshoo (650) 323-2984, DC (202) 225-8104
[CA-15] Rep Michael M. Honda (408) 558-8085, DC (202) 225-2631
[CA-16] Rep Zoe Lofgren (408) 271-8700, DC (202) 225-3072
[CA-17] Rep Sam Farr (831) 424-2229, DC (202) 225-2861
[CA-23] Rep Lois Capps (805) 730-1710, DC (202) 225-3601
[CA-28] Rep Howard L. Berman (818) 994-7200, DC (202) 225-4695
[CA-30] Rep Henry A. Waxman (323) 651-1040, DC (202) 225-3976
[CA-32] Rep Hilda L. Solis (626) 448-1271, DC (202) 225-5464
[CA-39] Rep Linda T. Sanchez (562) 429-8499, DC (202) 225-6676
[CA-5] Rep Doris O. Matsui (916) 498-5600, DC (202) 225-7163
[CA-51] Rep Bob Filner (619) 422-5963, DC (202) 225-8045
[CA-6] Rep Lynn C. Woolsey (707) 542-7182, DC (202) 225-5161
[CT-3] Rep Rosa L. DeLauro (203) 562-3718, DC (202) 225-3661
[CT-4] Rep Christopher Shays (203) 579-5870, DC (202) 225-5541
[FL-20] Rep Debbie Wasserman Schultz, (954) 437-3936, DC (202)225-7931
[IL-17] Rep Lane Evans (309) 793-5760, DC (202) 225-5905
[IL-4] Rep Luis V. Gutierrez (773) 384-1655, DC (202) 225-8203
[IL-9] Rep Janice D. Schakowsky (773) 506-7100, DC (202) 225-2111
[IN-7] Rep Julia Carson (317) 283-6516, DC (202) 225-4011
[MA-3] Rep James P. McGovern (508) 831-7356, DC (202) 225-6101
[MA-4] Rep Barney Frank (617) 332-3920, DC (202) 225-5931
[MD-7] Rep Elijah E. Cummings (410) 685-9199, DC (202) 225-4741
[MN-4] Rep Betty McCollum (651) 224-9191, DC (202) 225-6631
[MN-5] Rep Martin Olav Sabo (612) 664-8000, DC (202) 225-4755
[NJ-9] Rep Steven R. Rothman (201) 646-0808, DC (202) 225-5061
[NY-1] Rep Timothy H. Bishop (631) 696-6500, DC (202) 225-3826
[NY-17] Rep Eliot L. Engel (718) 796-9700, DC (202) 225-2464
[NY-2] Rep Steve Israel (631) 951-2210, DC (202) 225-3335
[NY-22] Rep Maurice D. Hinchey (845) 331-4466, DC (202) 225-6335
[NY-4] Rep Carolyn McCarthy (516) 739-3008, DC (202) 225-5516
[NY-5] Rep Gary L. Ackerman (718) 423-2154, DC (202) 225-2601
[NY-7] Rep Joseph Crowley (718) 779-1400, DC (202) 225-3965
[OH-10] Rep Dennis J. Kucinich (216) 228-8850, DC (202) 225-5871
[OR-1] Rep David Wu (503) 326-2901, DC (202) 225-0855
[OR-4] Rep Peter A. DeFazio (541) 465-6732, DC (202) 225-6416
[RI-1] Rep Patrick J. Kennedy (401) 729-5600, DC (202) 225-4911
[VA-8] Rep James P. Moran (703) 971-4700, DC (202) 225-4376
[WA-1] Rep Jay Inslee (425) 640-0233, DC (202) 225-6311
[WA-2] Rep Rick Larsen (425) 252-3188, DC (202) 225-2605
[WI-2] Rep Tammy Baldwin (608) 258-9800, DC (202) 225-2906
You can e-mail your representative by going to the following webpage,
choosing the representative, and clicking on his/her email.
http://www3.capwiz.com/c-span/dbq/officials/
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WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP OUR CAMPAIGN
1. Get everyone you know (hey, and strangers too) to sign our
pledge at www.mapconspiracy.org.
2. Send money to our campaign. Donations can be made out to
Gainesville Area NOW and sent to P.O. Box 2235, Gainesville, FL
32602. To use your credit card or direct withdrawal from your bank
account, go to Paypal.com, and donate any amount, using the email
address <lisa@gainesvillenow.org>
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The Morning-After Pill Conspiracy (a tongue-in-cheek reference to the
fact that women have to conspire to break the law, just to get the
Morning-After Pill) is a coalition of feminist organizations leading
the grassroots movement to make the Morning-After Pill an
over-the-counter drug. We started passing out the pills publicly on
February 15, 2004. Our campaign uses speak-outs and civil
disobedience to highlight the injustice of the prescription
requirement and to show that women are the real experts on why women
need unrestricted access to the Morning-After Pill. We have held
speak-outs and passed out the pill in New York City, Washington,
D.C., and Gainesville, Florida. Nine of us were arrested at
a protest on the steps of the FDA building in Rockville, MD. Over
3,500 women around the country have pledged to "Give a friend the
Morning-After Pill," defying the prescription requirement.
The "Morning-After Pill Conspiracy" includes the Women's Liberation
Birth-Control Project, NYC; Redstockings Allies and Veterans, NYC;
Gainesville Area National Organization for Women, FL; Gainesville
Women's Liberation, FL; Florida NOW Young Feminist Task Force, and
the Utah Young Feminist Task Force and Campus Action Network.
For the January 7th, 2005 action California NOW, as well as
Representative Carolyn Maloney signed on in support of our
action.
You can reach the Morning-After Pill Conspiracy at:
352-380-9934 (FL)
917-842-5306 (NY)
801-949-4546 (UTAH)
mapconspiracy04@hotmail.com
www.mapconspiracy.org
PO Box 2235
Gainesville, FL 32602