Repro Health Hub

New Year’s Eve is the biggest night of the year—including for birth control accidents. In fact, the stats are pretty startling: use of emergency contraception (EC) more than doubles in the first days of the new year.

That’s why the National Institute’s Back Up Your Birth Control campaign has launched a special effort to remind women that, if they do have a birth control mishap on the big night, EC is available over-the-counter at pharmacies, even in a single pill. At DontDropTheBall.org you can even send funny morning-after messages to all your friends to remind them that EC can get them out of a pickle on January 1st.

But first watch the hilarious “OMG, I sent that text to Grandma?!” video that started it all. Because if you can accidentally text your Grandma on New Year’s Eve, what else can go wrong?

Finally, share some of these fun facts about EC with all your friends this New Year’s…

• You can get EC over-the-counter if you’re 17 or older.
• There is now a convenient, one-pill version of EC.
• EC can help prevent pregnancy when taken within 120 hours of unprotected sex but is more effective the sooner you take it.
• EC is 95% effective when taken within 24 hours of unprotected sex.
• EC is kept behind the counter so you will need to ask the pharmacist for it.
• EC is NOT the “abortion pill,” Mifeprex™ or RU-486, and will not terminate an existing pregnancy.
• EC is a higher dosage of the same hormones found in many birth control pills.

By Maya Dusenbery

The first legislation in the nation that requires crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs) to disclose the limitations of their services is now the law of the land in Baltimore. From our partner and Urban Initiative grantee, NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland:

“We thank Council President Stephanie Rawlings-Blake for championing an issue so important to women’s health. This law will ensure truth in advertising, protecting consumers. Unfortunately, CPCs in Baltimore are not always up front about their services and frequently give women misinformation. For example, centers in Baltimore told women that abortion causes an increased risk of breast cancer and that condoms did not prevent STDs,” stated Blasdell.

NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland investigated three centers in Baltimore, all of which gave misinformation about abortion or birth control and none of which would provide a referral, even for birth control. “This law will empower women by giving them full information up front about what to expect from a limited service pregnancy center. This provision does not ask a facility to provide any services they find objectionable, but only asks them to tell the truth about the nature of their services. We applaud Mayor Dixon for signing this important bill,” continued Blasdell.

NARAL Pro-Choice Maryland is now working to get a similar bill passed in Montgomery County, MD.

By Maya Dusenbery