Embargoed
for release only until:
December 15, 2003
Contact: Linda Freeman, co-chair NOW New York State Reproductive Rights
Task Force, 201.433.3085 or 216.849.3382 (cell)
Erin
Mahoney, co-chair, NOW New York State Reproductive Rights
Task Force ,212.216.1841
Kelly
Mangan, vice president, University of Florida NOW, 850.445.4273 (cell)
Stephanie
Segiun, vice president, Gainesville Area (Florida) NOW, 352.380.9934
(Washington,
D.C., December 15, 2003) On December 16, 2003 the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration will hold a hearing to determine
whether
women in the United States will be able to walk into a drug store and
buy the
morning-after pill.
The
National Organization for Women-New York State has joined
forces with Gainesville Area NOW and University of Florida Campus NOW
to
organize everyday women to testify at this hearing about their personal
experience trying to access the morning-after pill.
Because the FDA has limited the time allotted for the public to
speak at this hearing, these organizations will hold a speak out and
press
conference outside the Hilton (620 Perry Parkway, Gaithersburg, MD) at
12:30
pm. Redstockings Allies and Veterans
will co-sponsor the speak out.
Women
will speak frankly about birth control, sex, men’s
responsibility to wear condoms, doctors, pharmacists and why we need
the
morning-after pill over-the-counter.
The
petition for the morning-after pill to be
changed from a prescription drug to an over-the-counter medication was
filed in
2001 by the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy.
Over 60 medical, feminist, and health organizations signed on to
this petition. Two years passed and the FDA never responded to this
petition.
In 2003, Women’s Capital Corporation, the maker of “Plan B” (one brand
of post-coital
contraception), filed its own petition for over-the-counter status.
The FDA
is finally heeding the call.
“The
recommendation that will come out of
this hearing could give women a powerful tool to control their
reproductive
lives.” said Erin Mahoney, co-chair of the NOW New York State
Reproductive
Rights Taskforce.
Women
need immediate access to this back up
method of birth control. The Morning-After Pill, also known as
Emergency
Contraception or Post-Sex Contraception, is equivalent to a higher than
normal
dose of daily birth control pills that can be taken up to 5 days after
intercourse in order to prevent pregnancy. However, the effectiveness
of this
drug drops dramatically after only 24 hours.
Although
the MAP is already over-the-counter
in more than 27 countries, including the United Kingdom, France, and
Denmark,
it is available in the United States by prescription only.
This requires women to get a doctor’s
appointment and fill a prescription, all within a day.
NOW New York State strongly supports the
right of any woman to walk into any drugstore at any hour of the day or
night
and purchase the MAP off the shelf. The
American Medical Association agrees that the MAP is safe
over-the-counter.
We
expect the FDA advisory panels to give this issue a fair
hearing. But according to The
Nation, “Three members of the
eleven-member Reproductive Health Drugs committee believe
contraceptives
promote illicit sex... They are: Dr. Susan Crockett, who considers
contraception a scriptural issue; Dr. David Hager, who advocates
abstinence as
the best birth control for unmarried women; and Dr. Joseph Stanford,
who
equates contraception and emergency contraception with abortion.” (The Nation, November 26, 2003.)
What do
women say?
“When I
went in search of the Morning-After
Pill, the cost that I found in New York City was exorbitant. It ran from $50-$150 with the doctor’s
visit. That was a big deterrent for me.
So I had to consider, would it be the $50-$150 I didn’t have or
would it
be a month of sweating it out to see if I was pregnant and then the
price of an
abortion?” said one woman who has used the MAP.
“I had sex with my
boyfriend and used condoms because I didn’t
want to catch an STD. The condom either
came off or broke and he didn’t say anything about it until afterwards,
although I’m sure he felt it. I decided
not to get the Morning-After Pill because I was very busy and would
have to
take time to wait at the doctor’s office. And I had heard that it would
make
you sick and vomit for days. I got
pregnant and got an abortion a few months later. Since then I have
taken the
Morning-After Pill several times and never been sick.” said another
woman.
When
women compare experiences with the
Morning-After Pill we have discovered that
the side-effects of the MAP have been wildly exaggerated, that
doctors
often put up resistance to prescribing it, that anti-abortion
pharmacists
refuse to fill the prescriptions, and that many pharmacies do not have
it in stock.
Women also overwhelmingly share frustration that men resist wearing
condoms.
Women
need full access to the Morning-After
Pill—the right to control when and if they have a child is a
cornerstone of
freedom and self-determination for women. Therefore, we demand:
1)
Unrestricted,
affordable, and OVER-THE-COUNTER access to the
Morning-After Pill for all women (regardless of age) in stock in every
drug
store.
2)
That men
take their fair share of responsibility for birth
control: men wear condoms without resistance (and without waiting for
us to
ask), pay for at least half of the method of birth control we use, and
get
checked for STDs at least once a year.
3)
That
doctors, pharmacists, hospitals and other healthcare
providers give us comprehensive, non-judgmental, factual and accurate
information about all forms of birth control and their side effects. We
further
demand that they ask men what forms of birth control they are using.
4)
That
reproductive choices be in women’s hands—not the hands of
medical professionals, the government or men.
On
December 16, 2003, women will speak publicly about
these demands and their experiences with the Morning-After Pill, birth
control,
condoms, sex, men and doctors. Before
the FDA panels make a recommendation, they need information from the
REAL
experts—women.