Tomorrow, March 20, is Back Up Your Birth Control Day, and organizers are encouraging people to blog about it. A coalition of more than 100 women’s health and medical organizations established the event as part of an ongoing campaign “to help make emergency contraception (EC) more effective by making sure women know about it — and can get it in time.” According to them, “Widespread knowledge and use of this safe and effective back-up birth control method could prevent as many as half of the 3 million unintended pregnancies that occur each year in the U.S.”
This is an issue worthy of all women’s attention, including lesbians. Some of us choose to have sex with men on occasion; some of us may be victims of rape. Many of us have daughters, or nieces, or friends, for whom EC is a needed option.
The Back Up Your Birth Control Day activities are largely targeted at educating teens. The organizers state, “In the fall of 2006, the FDA approved over-the-counter (OTC) sales of EC for adult women, but kept the prescription requirement for teens younger than 18. The FDA’s decision is an incomplete victory for all Americans. Many women, due to the age restriction, are excluded from timely OTC access as a result of the FDA’s decision.”
I’ll have more tomorrow in honor of the actual day. In the meantime, you can visit the Back Up Your Birth Control site to learn more, and blog about it yourself tomorrow if you feel so inclined.
While I’m on the topic of choice, however, I’ll note that anti-abortion legislators in Florida are pushing for a bill (yet to be referred to a committee) that would require pediatricians, school nurses or other health providers who find out that a girl under 16 is pregnant to tell the police. “The confidentiality privilege that normally exists between doctor and patient would not apply in cases that fall under the bill,” reports the Naples Daily News. Abortion providers would also be required to collect DNA samples from girls under 16 who have abortions. The bill’s supporters say it’s meant to protect girls from sexual abusers, including family members. Makes me want to beat the legislators about the heads with a copy of The Handmaid’s Tale.