March 7, 2002 - Bills Would Educate About Emergency Contraception

U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) in the Senate and Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) in the House introduced legislation on March 6 that would authorize a public awareness campaign aimed at women and health care providers, "to help remove many of the barriers to emergency contraception and bring this important means of pregnancy prevention to American women."

The bills define "emergency contraception" as "a drug or device used after sexual relations that prevents pregnancy by preventing ovulation, fertilization of an egg, or implantation of an egg in a uterus."

The bills note that the Food and Drug Administration has declared emergency contraception to be safe and effective in preventing unintended pregnancy, reducing the risk by as much as 89 percent. The most commonly used forms of emergency contraception are regimens of ordinary birth control pills taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse or contraceptive failure. "Emergency contraception does not cause abortion and will not affect an established pregnancy," the bills point out.

Noting that nine in ten women of reproductive age remain unaware of the method, and only one in five ob/gyns routinely discusses emergency contraception with patients, the bills call for an appropriation of $10 million a year for five years to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "to develop and disseminate to the public information on emergency contraception."