Articles about Emergency Contraception
February 16th, 2010 • Contributed by Lon Newman
“A defender of the church,” proclaimed the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel headline for an extensive story about the new Archbishop-designate, Jerome Listecki. The subtitle for the article was: “Archbishop designate Listecki vows collaboration, but unafraid of debate.” The subtitle was probably derived from the bishop’s description of how he planned to participate in the political process. He said: “If we don’t challenge one another’s statements, then we’re relinquishing our responsibility to the common good.”
The following month, young Catholics for Choice (yCFC – a Washington D.C. based organization) and Family Planning Health Services (FPHS – an agency with family planning clinics in eight Wisconsin counties) formed a unique sectarian-secular advertising partnership, produced informational ads for broadcast, and then embarked on a two-day Wisconsin “road-trip” to draw media attention to their campaign and to build public (including the Catholic public) awareness and knowledge about emergency contraception.
The purpose of the joint media campaign was two-fold; 1) to inform the public about how Plan B works so they would have it on hand in advance of need and, 2) to inform Catholic women of reproductive age that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops health care directives permit the use of emergency contraception to prevent pregnancies resulting from rape.
In the January 2010 issue of the Journal of the Catholic Health Association of the United States, Ron Hamel, Ph.D., makes it very clear that the ethics of access to emergency contraception for Catholics needs to be fully examined and explained. Professor Hamel’s article and the YCFC/FPHS EC campaign are an effort to fulfill that responsibility when there is significant resistance.
The campaign succeeded in getting a response from the Archbishop-designate and thus succeeded in its secondary purpose. The headline on the Christmas Eve edition of the La Crosse Diocesan newspaper is: “Bishop Rejects Young Catholics for Choice Message.” The front page column ran adjacent to the departing bishop’s message. But what he rejected so prominently: “ . . . that Catholics can disregard Church teaching on contraception, abortion, and human sexuality in general and remain Catholics in good standing,” was only weakly connected to the message that yCFC and Family Planning Health Services (FPHS) were promoting.
Bishop Listecki, like most of the Catholic protestors in front of the FPHS clinic, will allow “no room for interpretation,” once the bishop’s authority has been invoked. Many within the church see the bishop’s pattern of authoritarian rebukes, condemnations, and admonitions as futile efforts to suppress dissent and they understand they are not the views of other Catholics or even the other American bishops. Just as importantly, the denials and condemnations are not solely inflicted on the faithful. The prayer vigil protestors’ and Bishop Listecki’s efforts to eliminate access to emergency contraception, if they succeed, would apply to women regardless of their faith.
Erik Cieslewicz and Brooke Sperry have produced a documentary about the joint campaign that will be released February 17th, 2010. The web-posting will occur on the same day that another Lenten prayer vigil outside an FPHS clinic (which does not provide abortion services) begins in central Wisconsin. The video shows the challenge as well as the fun of the effort to educate the public in the face of consistent efforts to suppress and to misinform. Earlier, “40 Days for Life” prayer vigils played a large part in motivating FPHS and yCFC to cooperate in the advertising effort to correct misinformation being spread by their opponents.
Enjoy the video!
No Comments • Posted in: Action, Birth Control, Emergency Contraception, Family Planning, Policy
January 18th, 2010 • Contributed by Sue Kettner
During these days as we wait for what Congress will do in the area of Health Insurance Reform, we found a good resource that may help many people understand Plan B or Emergency Contraception. The following article is written and nicely documented by Ron Hamel, Ph.D. in the Journal of the Catholic Health Association of the United States.
2 Comments • Posted in: Emergency Contraception
November 30th, 2009 • Contributed by Lon Newman
The belief that contraception is intrinsically evil, though sincere, does not make it true. The belief that it is “written in everyone’s heart as “natural law” is no more persuasive. If true, it seems there would be no disagreement.
Catholic leaders know they have not persuaded one another, the public, or their own laity, to agree that contraception is evil. So when it comes to public policy, rather than engage in dialogue and debate, they seem to make a statement and end it with a “Dixi” (Latin for “I have spoken”) as though that is all that should be necessary.
Continue reading this article »
No Comments • Posted in: Birth Control, Emergency Contraception, Policy
October 27th, 2009 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
from our friend Elizabeth Westley at ICEC
Please find below my summary and interpretation of a recent decision in Peru. My thanks to our colleagues at the Center for Reproductive Rights for helping me understand the implications of this case. Any errors are mine alone!
Peru’s Highest Court Rules Against EC
Peru’s Constitutional Court (Tribunal Constitucional) has stopped the Ministry of Health’s free distribution of EC in a decision issued on October 22nd. In addition, this decision requires local distributors of EC to add a warning to the package insert stating that this product could cause an abortion.
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No Comments • Posted in: Emergency Contraception
April 22nd, 2009 • Contributed by Dahlia Ward
The Associated Press is reporting that Plan B (emergency contraception) will soon be available without a prescription for teens 17 and under. We expect the FDA to shortly announce its compliance with the court decision we reported on last month that slammed the FDA for its politically driven decision to impose an age restriction. We hope that this is the first step in making Plan B accessible and affordable for all women who need it.
No Comments • Posted in: Emergency Contraception
February 26th, 2009 • Contributed by Lon Newman
Neither Do I Condemn You
A young mother visiting our Women Infants and Children’s nutrition clinic in Central Wisconsin was frightened by a male picketer as she came into our clinic a few weeks ago. Other women, sometimes our patients, sometimes our employees, have felt threatened by the “40 Days for Life” anti-birth control demonstrators leading a Lenten protest that began yesterday in front of our clinic in Central Wisconsin and in 131 other communities across the nation.
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1 Comment • Posted in: Birth Control, Emergency Contraception, Family Planning, Sex Ed
December 30th, 2008 • Contributed by Lon Newman
As the fable goes, an eagle is brought to earth by an arrow fletched with his own feathers.
Listening to the spokesperson for Pro-Life Wisconsin as he defended the new ‘right of conscience’ regulations on Wisconsin Public Radio last week reminded me of the wisdom of the tale.
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1 Comment • Posted in: Abortion, Abstinence, Action, Birth Control, Emergency Contraception, Policy, Sex Ed
November 12th, 2008 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
[At Below The Waist, we think it is important to support people all over the world who work in reproductive health. We found this blog post on a Seattle area blog. Their clinic is suffering with a budget, and as a result services could possibly be lost. We think it is important to support these folks, and we would hope you write to the people in charge and remind them just how important reproductive health is.]
King County wants to ax family planning services for poor women & teens in Rainier Valley, White Center, etc. Can you help?
Many of you already know that King County is facing a major budget crisis. What you may not know is that the budget currently being deliberated by the King County Council eliminates no less than FIVE family planning clinics – including the valley’s own Columbia Public Health Center in the Genessee Business District – as well as family planning and STD services for teens in juvenile detention. The clinics on the chopping block could close as early as the end of 2008.
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No Comments • Posted in: Action, Emergency Contraception, Policy
October 29th, 2008 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
[From the Guttmacher Institute]
A Range of Concerns Would Need to Be Addressed
To Ensure that All Women Benefit
A growing number of women’s health advocates are urging bolder and potentially transformative steps toward greater “contraceptive convenience,” with the aim of making contraceptive use easier and more sustainable for women, according to a new Guttmacher policy analysis. These advocates argue that many of the ways in which contraceptives are made available in the United States are no longer grounded in the reality of current scientific advancements or modern women’s lives.
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1 Comment • Posted in: Emergency Contraception, STIs
September 25th, 2008 • Contributed by Dino Corvino
[From Guttmacher Institute]
September 26 marks World Contraception Day, which highlights the many ways using modern birth control methods benefits women and their partners. Access to contraceptives allows couples worldwide to make responsible decisions about when to become parents and also helps secure women’s full and equal participation in modern society. Using any form of contraception dramatically reduces a woman’s chance of getting pregnant and either having an abortion or giving birth to a child she did not intend. The most effective methods virtually eliminate that risk.
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No Comments • Posted in: Birth Control, Emergency Contraception, Policy
