Your Turn Letters to the Editor

National BUYBC Day

BUYBC and EC are not text-messaging codes; they represent Back Up Your Birth Control and Emergency Contraception. BUYBC is a national campaign, spearheaded by Planned Parenthood and hundreds of national and local medical organizations and women’s health advocacy groups to promote EC awareness. Tuesday, March 21, is National BUYBC Day.

Emergency Contraception, also know as Plan B and the morning-after pill, has a proven 89 percent effectiveness rate of preventing an unintended pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex or if a contraceptive method fails (for instance a condom splits or a pill is forgotten or taken late). Four out of 10 girls get pregnant at least once before the age of 20 and each year 3 million pregnancies, or half of all pregnancies in the United States, are unintended with half of these unintended pregnancies ending in an abortion. Widespread awareness and use of EC could result in preventing 1.7 million unintended pregnancies and 800,000 abortions each year in the U.S. Additional facts on EC include:

 EC is a higher dosage of the same hormones found in daily birth control pills.

 EC has minimal side effects, the most common being nausea. However, anti-nausea medication can be taken an hour before the first dose of EC pills to reduce this side effect.

 EC meets all of the FDA’s requirements for over-the-counter status and is generally safer than many other drugs currently available over-the-counter in the U.S.

 Over-the-counter status of emergency contraception is wholeheartedly supported by a wide range of medical and women’s health organizations, including the American Medical Association, American College of Obstetrics and Gynecology, National Women’s Health Network, National Black Women’s Health Project and the American Academy of Pediatrics.

 EC is currently available without a prescription in many countries worldwide, including France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Israel and South Africa.

 EC is not the abortion pill RU-486.

EC can be obtained through Student Health or Planned Parenthood. In honor of BUYBC Day, Virginia League for Planned Parenthood will be offering EC for only $10 on March 20 and 22. Contact Planned Parenthood at (804) 355-4358, ext. 14 for details. For additional information on BUYBC and EC visit www.backupyourbirthcontrol.org. If you’re interested in becoming actively involved in supporting reproductive rights and comprehensive sex education, contact vcuvox@yahoo.com.

Sincerely,
Sara Duke
VOX @ VCU, President