Ipas > Back Up Your Birth Control!

Back Up Your Birth Control!

March 19, 2002

THIS STORY INCLUDES TEXT BOX WHICH NEEDS TO BE ADDED!!!! NEEDS PHOTO CREDIT, TOO!

Ipas is proud to be a co-sponsor of the Back Up Your Birth Control campaign which kicks off on March 20th. This nationwide campaign unites more than 100 national and local medical organizations and women's health advocacy groups in the United States in an effort to educate the public about emergency contraception.

More than three million unintended pregnancies occur annually in the United States. Experts estimate that emergency contraception has the potential to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies by half and prevent more than 700,000 abortions each year.

Emergency contraceptive pills should not be confused with mifepristone (formerly known as RU-486), a drug used to terminate early pregnancy. Emergency contraception is effective only before a pregnancy occurs, working much the same way as birth control pills, and has no effect on an established pregnancy.

Unfortunately, use of emergency contraceptive pills has been limited. Most American women are not aware that emergency contraception is available or have misconceptions about it. Women also face barriers in obtaining emergency contraception in a timely fashion, since it is not yet available over-the-counter.

The sponsors of the Back Up Your Birth Control campaign hope to raise awareness about the safety and effectiveness of emergency contraception so that it can fulfill its potential to prevent millions of unwanted pregnancies. Ipas encourages women to ask their health care providers for a dose of emergency contraception to keep on hand in case of an emergency.

Visit the campaign's main website www.backupyourbirthcontrol.org to find out more about emergency contraception and how you can get involved in the campaign.

The Back Up Your Birth Control campaign is being coordinated by the nonprofit Reproductive Health Technologies Project.

To read more about CRLP's petition to make EC available over the counter visit: http://www.crlp.org/pri_con_ec_current.html

Factsheets on emergency contraception are available

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258