Facts About Women & Birth Control
Why Women Use EC and Birth Control:
- An American woman who wants only two children will use birth control for almost 30 years of her life.
- Over 10 million U.S. women rely on the pill for contraception, and over 2 million more rely on another prescription method of birth control. 1
- In Texas, more than 2.2 million women need contraceptive services and supplies.2
- Women are prescribed oral contraceptives for a variety of medical reasons in addition to birth control. The pill lowers women’s risk of heart disease, stroke, uterine and ovarian cancers, and high cholesterol.3
- Emergency Contraception (EC) is a high dose of ordinary birth control pills that prevents pregnancy when taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse. EC does not terminate pregnancy and should not be confused with RU486 (mifepristone), which is an abortifaicent.4
- EC has extraordinary potential to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and abortion in the United States by 50%. EC prevented an estimated 51, 000 abortions in the year 2000 alone.5
- Access to EC is particularly important to rape victims. The American Medical Association’s standards for emergency care require that rape survivors be counseled on the risk of pregnancy and offered EC.6
- The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists endorses making EC available over-the-counter to prevent unintended pregnancies.7
Pharmacists Are Refusing to Fill Prescriptions:
- In February 2004 in Denton, Texas, an Eckerd pharmacist refused to fill a prescription for emergency contraception for a rape victim, citing his own personal opposition to EC. The pharmacist was fired for violating the store’s policies. The pharmacist told the press that he had previously refused to fill other prescriptions for emergency contraception.
- In March 2004 in a suburb of Fort Worth, Texas, a CVS pharmacist refused to refill a woman’s birth control pill prescription because of her own personal opposition to the pill. The chain’s policy is that pharmacists may decline to fill prescriptions, but they should ask another pharmacist to fill it or refer the prescription to another store. CVS delivered the pills to the woman’s home the next day.
- In September 2004, in Laconia, New Hampshire, a single mother was denied emergency contraception by a pharmacist who told her “I believe this will end the fertilization of the egg and this conception was your choice.” The pharmacist twice refused to fill the prescription despite the Brooks Pharmacy policy, which does not allow pharmacists to refuse care; and refused to refer the patient to another pharmacy in defiance of New Hampshire law. By the time the woman found a pharmacy to fill her prescription, it was too late for emergency contraception.
- In Fabens, Texas, the only private pharmacy in a small town, the Medicine Shoppe, refuses to fill prescriptions for birth control pills for contraceptive use, or carry EC, because the pharmacist personally opposes the pill.
- In October 2004, a Walgreen’s pharmacist in Smyrna, Georgia refused to refill a woman’s birth control prescription because the pharmacist personally opposes birth control. The woman was told to come back to the store when another pharmacist would be on duty, but the store manager assisted her by referring her prescription to another Walgreen’s store.
Why Texas Women Need Access to Contraception:
- 3 states (Mississippi, South Dakota, and Arkansas) have laws allowing pharmacists to override a physician’s recommendation and refuse to fill a woman’s prescription for contraception, regardless of her medical circumstances. Both Arkansas and Mississippi also allow pharmacists to refuse to provide women with information on contraception or refer them to a different pharmacist or pharmacy where they could fill their prescriptions.
- Most states with so-called “refusal clauses” have very broad statutes that don’t protect patients from discrimination. Civil rights groups are concerned that health care providers could refuse to treat a patient simply because they disapprove of the patient’s lifestyle or choices.
- 47 states have some form of “refusal clause” that allows health care providers and institutions to refuse to perform abortion procedures that conflict with their religious or moral beliefs. Under current Texas law, a doctor, nurse, staff member or other employee of a hospital or health care facility cannot be forced to participate in an abortion procedure, or discriminated against based on that belief.8 The attempt to expand refusal clauses to allow pharmacists to deny birth control pescriptions is a new strategy by anti-choice legislators.
- Representative Corte has filed a bill (HB 16) in the 2005 Texas Legislature that would allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense EC and birth control without any obligation to refer the patient to another pharmacist or pharmacy that will fill her prescription. The pharmacist can refuse to fill prescriptions, even if the woman is a victim of rape seeking EC, or has been prescribed birth control by her physician to help prevent her from suffering from heart disease, stroke, or ovarian cancer. Click here to take action on HB 16.
- 87% of Texans think pharmacists should not be able to override a doctor’s order and refuse to fill prescriptions for birth control and 83% of Texans think pharmacists should not be able to refuse to fill a prescription for EC. 80% of Texans think a pharmacy has a responsibility to make sure a patient gets medication from another pharmacist if an employee refuses to fill a prescription.9
- The Alan Guttmacher Institute, “Facts in Brief: Contraceptive Use.”, 2004.
- AGI, ”Contraceptive Needs and Services, 2001-2002.”
- Kaiser Daily Reproductive Health Report, “Birth Control Pill Reduces Risk of Heart Disease, Stroke, Some Cancers, Federal Study Says.” Thursday, October 21, 2004.
- Trussell, James, Ellertson, C., and Stewart, Felicia. “The effectiveness of the Yuzpe regimen of emergency contraception.” Family Planning Perspectives. 1996; vol. 28.
- Wind, Rebecca. “Emergency Contraception (EC) Played Key Role in Abortion Rate Declines”, 2002.
- American Medical Association, “Strategies for the Treatment and Prevention of Sexual Assault.” (1995)
- American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists “ACOG Supports Safety and Availability of Over-the-Counter Emergency Contraception.” News Release. February 28, 2001.
- TSA § 103.001 et seq.
- Scripps Research Center, The Fall 2004 Texas Poll, conducted October 11-28, 2004.
|
