By National Women's Law Center
TAKE ACTION IN YOUR TOWN!
At your local pharmacy
Will your local pharmacy provide you with emergency contraception (the morning-after pill or EC) when you need it? Find out what your pharmacy’s policy is on refusals before you need EC! The next time you go to the pharmacy, ask the manager if the pharmacy stocks EC. Ask whether that pharmacy allows pharmacists to refuse to dispense prescriptions for birth control or EC (and if they do permit pharmacists to refuse, ask what steps a refusing pharmacist must take to ensure that a woman receives her medication). You can also find information about how national chains have scored (based on their refusal policies) here. If you don’t like the policy at your pharmacy, write a letter (national chains often have online complaint forms) and tell them so!
At your school
If you’re in college, make sure your university health center has the best policies about EC access. Contact NWLC for our guide to improving campus EC policies, complete with step-by-step instructions and fact sheets that are ready to hand to campus administrators. See also the Feminist Majority’s website devoted to campus activism around EC.
TAKE ACTION IN CONGRESS!
Contact your member of Congress and urge him or her to cosponsor the Prevention First Act. The Prevention First Act will reduce unintended pregnancies by increasing access to affordable birth control and giving women and teens the information they need to make good decisions about their health and lives. The bill provides funding for comprehensive sex education, requires government programs to tell the truth about birth control, reduces cost barriers for poor women by requiring states to provide coverage for birth control, and improves awareness of and access to emergency contraception, including for sexual assault survivors. To find the names of your Senators and Representatives and how to contact them, visit the National Women’s Law Center’s Legislative Action Center.
| clpo13 argues, "Educating teens about things such as condoms and the pill will not only reduce the amount of STDs among teens but also reduce the amount of unwanted teen pregnancies." |
Issues
• Pharmacy Access: Urge your governor, state representative and state senator to support pharmacy access (also known as “direct access” or “collaborative practice agreements”). In states that have these laws, pharmacists who go through a special training program can dispense EC even without a doctor’s prescription – even to people under 18. Find out more information here.
• Pharmacy Refusals: Contact your governor, state representative and state senator to make sure women in your state are guaranteed timely access to legal pharmaceuticals like birth control and EC! Tell them you support policies guaranteeing that women seeking birth control and EC won’t leave the pharmacy without it and won’t be harassed when they ask for it. Check out our map to see if your state already has a policy in place– and if it’s a bad policy, write your elected officials to tell them you think so! There’s lots of additional information in our legal guide as well.
• EC in the ER: Timely access to EC is incredibly important for survivors of rape. Tell your governor, state representative and state senator that emergency rooms must have trained staff available to provide EC (and medically accurate information about EC) to sexual assault survivors. Only CA, IL, MA, NJ, NM, NY, SC and WA have “EC in the ER” laws on the books – check out our fact sheet to see what the elements of a good law are, and ask your state government officials to pass one!
How to contact state elected officials
• Find and contact your state representative and senator here (click on your state in the first menu, and then click “legislators” in the second).
• Find and contact your governor here.
AND DON’T FORGET TO SHARE YOUR STORY!
If you have difficulty getting EC or birth control when you need it, see our fact sheet and don’t forget to tell us about it here. We can tell you about applicable laws, talk you through possible next steps, and help you use a bad situation to improve the lives of women and teens everywhere.
• National Women's Law Center
• Emergency Contraception
• Facts: STDs
