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The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

Independent Student Newspaper Since 1969

The Badger Herald

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Coalition supports contraceptive pill

A coalition of Wisconsin family planning organizations held an informational breakfast and news conference Wednesday morning at the Monona Terrace to promote emergency contraception.

Emergency contraception is designed to prevent pregnancy up to five days after unprotected sex. Because fertilization sometimes occurs before the pill is taken, some conservative, pro-life and religious groups oppose emergency contraception because Wisconsin law allows pharmacists to refuse filling prescriptions for emergency contraception if morally opposed to it.

State Senate Minority Leader Judy Robson, D-Beloit, said such legislation discriminates against women.

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“A pharmacist up north can deny a woman a prescription from being filled because … he doesn’t think that she should get birth control,” Robson said during the conference. “[Opponents of emergency contraception] want to set us back to the Stone Age and put us back in the kitchen … You know that’s exactly what the plan is.”

Robson invited women to run for elected office to oppose what she called a “regressive, right-wing conservative agenda.”

Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton said denying women access to emergency contraception denies women constitutionally guaranteed equality and leads to violence against women.

“If we don’t ensure that women have full constitutional protection — the access to family planning that is so important — we are giving … permission to ‘kick her like a dog,'” Lawton said.

Jim Stewart, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin, said emergency contraception must be made available to all women.

“Basic birth control is under attack in America,” he said. “The issue with emergency contraception is about fundamental access.”

Lon Newman, president of the Wisconsin Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association (WFPRHA), said such access can only be provided when women know emergency contraception is available.

WFPRHA is currently working to increase awareness of emergency contraception by advertising on billboards, television, radio and print ads. The group solicited donations at the press conference to help expand such efforts.

WFPRHA also has a toll-free emergency contraception hotline for women seeking more information, which can be reached at 1-877-975-9858.

Currently, emergency contraception is only available with a prescription. Last year the FDA refused to grant an emergency contraceptive with the brand name “Plan B” over-the-counter status.

Chris Hanke, a registered nurse with Family Planning Health Services (FPHS,) criticized the decision, saying its over-the-counter status would make emergency contraception more accessible to women. Hanke said a study in Pennsylvania showed only 35 percent of pharmacists could fill an emergency contraception prescription the same day it was requested.

Hanke advocated the Compassionate Care for Rape Victims bill, which would require hospitals to provide sexual assault victims with information about emergency contraception and even dispense the medication with the victims’ request.

“Providing [emergency contraception] to sexual assault victims … offers a sense of being in control of a situation that was out of her control,” Hanke said.

FPHS currently works with domestic abuse shelters and other agencies to deliver emergency contraception to sexual assault victims through the emergency contraception hotline.

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