Operation Oprah

Today is International Women's Day.
Tomorrow is Solidarity with South Dakota Day.

Here is an idea: it's time to get Oprah on board with defending women's right to choose. I'm not just talking about abortion here, but the attack on our free access to birth control. A mainstream, mass-mediated woman like Oprah could send a wake-up call to millions of women who might otherwise choose not to think about these issues because they just haven't had the right kind of consciousness raising.

Here's the plan: write to the Oprah Show to suggest that they do a show on choice. I have a sample letter for you below. All you have to do is go to the link, fill in your information, paste the letter into the box (This letter is right at the character-limit) and voila'! Think of it as a form of media-lobbying. I can think of no better media outlet to reach women (and men) across the country…

So here's the link: http://www2.oprah.com/email/reach/email_showideas.jhtml

Oh, and don't forget to forward to your friends!

Sample Letter:

Dear Oprah Show:

Women in America need you to do a show on preserving our Right to Choose. I'm not just talking about abortion, but a right to choose whether or not to use CONTRACEPTION to prevent pregnancy. Right now in America there is a real threat to women's reproductive health, and we need your help. We need someone with your influence to help wake up American women to take a stand!

In Kansas, Attorney General Phill Klein has tried to subpoena women's abortion records. Also in this state, it is legal for a 14-year-old to marry, but illegal for her to have sex if she is unmarried. Klein is working towards making all mandated reporters (teachers, doctors, counselors) report to the State if they suspect that an unwed minor is engaging in sexual activity so that the activity can be investigated. No young people will come forward for help or health services if they fear such an investigation!

Emergency Contraception

"You don't have to be of a particular persuasion or a particular party to care about good government or to care about women's health or to care about science in our health policy."— Susan Wood, former director of the Office of Women's Health at the Food and Drug Administration before resigning in protest over the handling of the application to make Plan B emergency contraception available over the counter, now traveling the country to share her views on "how scientific evidence is being trumped in a federal agency that's supposed to provide objective science," Rochester Democrat and Chronicle (New York), January 20, 2006–Planned ParenthoodWhat is Emergency Contraception or the "Morning After Pill":
Sexdictionary:

"The ‘morning-after’ pill is a high doses birth control pill. It is used to reduce the risk of pregnancy after you had sex.
The morning-pill works after a girl had sex, but before she becomes pregnant. It’s not a normal method of birth control, but rather an emergency measure afterwards, when the condom was torn or the girl discovers a tiny hole in her diaphragm after intercourse.
The term ‘morning-after’ is misleading. You can take the first 2 pills immediately after unprotected intercourse, or at any time up to 72 hours later. The sooner you take them the greater the efficacy. The term ‘pill’ is also misleading, because there are more than one pill. The first pills you take as soon as possible; after a 12 hour wait you take the rest of the pills."

Planned Parenthood: Emergency Contraception: The Basics

"… can prevent pregnancy after unprotected vaginal intercourse. It is also called post-coital or "morning-after" contraception…. is available from health care providers, Planned Parenthood® health centers, and other women's health and family planning centers.

… is provided in two ways

• emergency contraception pills (ECPs)
• insertion of an IUD

… is used only if a woman is not already pregnant from a previous act of intercourse. ECPs prevent pregnancy by stopping ovulation or fertilization. IUDs prevent fertilization. Theoretically, EC could also prevent implantation, but that has not been proven scientifically. EC will not cause an abortion.

ECPs

Plan B® is a brand of ECPs designed and approved by the FDA specifically for emergency contraception. Certain birth control pills may also be prescribed for use as emergency contraception. Some ECPs are "combination pills" with estrogen and progestin — synthetic hormones like the ones a woman's body makes. Others, such as Plan B, are progestin-only.

Some clinicians review your medical history before they prescribe ECPs. Some may want you to give informed consent by signature or over the telephone."

Where can I get E.C.?

Watkins Student Health Center:

Health Center: 785.864.9500
Appointments: 785.864.9507
Mon-Fri.: 8:00am-8:00pm
Saturday: 8:00am-4:30pm
Sunday : 12:30pm-4:30pm

Link

Douglas County Health Clinic:
200 Maine Street, Suite B
Lawrence, Kansas 66044
Office (785) 843-3060
Clinic (785) 843-0721

Monday – Friday 8:30 am – 11:30 am; 1:00 pm – 4:30 pm
Tuesday open at 9:30 am
Monday evening until 8:00 pm
Thursday evening until 7:00 pm for immunizations
Link

Planned Parenthood:
2108 W 27th Street, Suite J
Lawrence, KS 66047
map to location
785 832 0281
Monday: 11:00 AM to 7:00 PM
Tuesday:9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Wednesday:Closed
Thursday: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Friday: 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM
Saturday: closed
Sunday: closed

FDA Office of Women's Health Publishes Progress Report, Ignores Plan B- feminist.org

3/8/2006 – The Food and Drug Administration's Office of Women's Health (OWH) released a progress report yesterday on its first decade of work. OWH was created by an act of Congress as a response to the dearth of women participants in medical studies, and the subsequent lack of knowledge about women’s health. Its mission is to advocate for women’s inclusion in clinical trials, encourage sex difference and subpopulation analysis of medical results, and “protect and advance the health of women through policy, science and outreach.”

The progress report detailed the studies OWH supported regarding heart disease, dioxin, silicone breast implants, and the safety of medication during pregnancy, among other research areas. Furthermore, the report detailed the fact sheets and other women’s health resources that it has made available, including a “pregnancy registry” which tracks women and the medications they take while pregnant to evaluate the overall safety of those drugs for pregnant women. In an email that accompanied the release of the report, Kathleen Uhl, the assistant commissioner for women’s health, wrote that the office’s future goals would include more sex difference research, expanding their data repository, and working to educate consumers.

Women’s contraceptive health was conspicuously absent from the report, with no mention made of the emergency contraceptive Plan B or of any other hormonal or nonhormonal contraceptive advances of the past decade. Susan Wood, the former director of the OWH, left the agency because of delays regarding a decision on over-the-counter status for Plan B, and has since voiced fears that scientists will leave the FDA because “social conservatives have extreme undue influence.”

LEARN MORE Read about The Plan B Saga in the current issue of Ms. magazine, available on newsstands nationwide

Other Sources from both sides of the fence:

Kaiser: FDA Advisory Panel Recomend that EC be Sold without Prescription
FDA Questions regarding Plan B
Washington Post: Staff Scientists Reject FDA's PLAN B Reasoning
FDA Advisory: Barr Plan B OTC
USA Today: Plan B Decision called Political
60 Minutes: The Debate over Plan B
New York Times: FDA's Rejection of Plan B is Questioned
Boston Globe: Saving Plan B from the zealots
Medical News Today: FDA delays the Decision on Nonprescriptive Sales of Emergency Contraception

Other news about EC in the Media:
PPKM: Advocates for Choice in Wichita tell Walgreens to "FILL MY PILLS"
Alternet: Walmart has no Plan B
CNN: Walmart to carry Plan B contraceptive