Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts kicked off its national “Back up Your Birth Control with Emergency Contraception” campaign last night at the Boston University College of Arts and Sciences with a speech by Boston Medical Center’s clinical director.
“I came out without my umbrella tonight and wasn’t prepared,” said Clinical Service Director Martha Kleinerman to a small group of female students. “That’s kind of like what I am talking about. Things happen and people aren’t always prepared.”
Kleinerman emphasized the safety and effectiveness of EC, also known as the “morning-after” pill, and encouraged women to stock up on EC or obtain a prescription for it in preparation for emergency situations.
EC, which can be taken up to 72 hours after a case of unanticipated sexual activity or contraceptive failure, is a combination of a dosage of hormones that can reduce the risk of getting pregnant by up to 89 percent, according to Kleinerman.
“Most of what we find is that people have just never heard of EC,” she said.
According to the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, one-third of reproductive-age women have not even heard of this contraceptive method, and only 5 percent learned about it from their healthcare provider.
Plan B, the brand of EC prescribed at Planned Parenthood, is available for $15 and retails for about $30, Kleinerman said.
“BU does offer EC,” she said. “In this last year, we have been trying to get it into pharmacies.”
Although local grocery stores, such as the Star Market in Allston, carry EC in their pharmacies, an important issue is making EC more widely available, she told the group.
“The problem is politics in the country,” Kleinerman said. “There is an element of the pro-life, anti-choice population that wouldn’t like this to be widely available.”
Kleinerman advocated open-ended prescriptions of EC for women who may need it in cases of emergency, but she acknowledged some pharmacies do not have such a liberal view of pill distribution.
“We do have pharmacies who are judgmental when it comes to why a person would be needing it more than once,” she said.
Kleinerman said Planned Parenthood wouldn’t prohibit women from taking EC repeatedly, especially since common assumptions that repeated use of EC makes it less effective aren’t true.
She also distinguished between EC and RU-486, the abortion pill, explaining the differences in how the two pills work.
“Unlike the abortion pill, if you are already pregnant, EC does not affect that,” Kleinerman said. “It is such a safe product. We’d rather give it to you with a chance that pregnancy can occur.
“EC is a high dosage of hormones, like the ones found in the Pill, which are taken twice, 12 hours apart within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse.” There are some studies that suggest it can be helpful in preventing pregnancy even after those 72 hours.”
The meeting was co-sponsored by Boston University’s Vox: Voices for Planned Parenthood chapter. Vox, which is affiliated with Planned Parenthood, is a relatively new, abortion rights activist group on the BU campus.
“It’s important to spread the word about EC on campus,” said Vox member and College of General Studies freshman Vanessa Saldana. “More people need to be informed before they get into real trouble.”
Vox members will be in the George Sherman Union on Friday, March 29, with information on EC.
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