Together We Walk – United We Stand – For Health Care Reform

As we in the pro-choice community know all too well, access to safe, legal reproductive health care is essential to the health and well-being of all women.

On Saturday, August 29th, join with others from across Westchester and New York City who are dedicated to improving access to women’s health services across the lifespan, including to comprehensive reproductive health care.

Saturday, August 29th at Noon!
Women’s Walk
12 pm – Kick off
Roosevelt Hospital
(10th Ave at 59th St)
2 pm – Converge with other activists from all over NYC for our Times Square Rally
Speakers include:
House Ways and Means Chair Charles Rangel of Harlem and
Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney of Manhattan

Walk for the health care women need. See you there!

To Join or co-sponsor The Women’s Walk, contact: INFO@RAISINGWOMENSVOICES.NET

Or for more information email Choice Matters at ChoiceMatters@ChoiceMatters.org

Participating Women’s Health Organizations
Choices in Childbirth*Community Healthcare Network*Crime Victims Treatment Center/Roosevelt Hospital*Gynuity Health Projects*NARAL Pro-Choice NY*National Institute for Reproductive Health*National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health*New Space for Women’s Health*New York Civil Liberties Union*NOW – NYC*NYC Alliance Against Sexual Assault*Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health*Planned Parenthood of New York City Action Fund*Pro-Choice Public Education Project*Public Health Association of NYC*Raising Women’s Voices for the Health Care We Need*Reproductive Health Access Project*The Women’s City Club of New York*WCLA-Choice Matters

   Friday was a great day! We were in  Yonkers educating people about Plan B which is a high dose of birth control that can stop a    woman from becoming pregnant if taken within 5 days of unprotected sex. It is more effective the sooner you take it.  If you take it  within 3 days, it is 89% effective.

   It is also called EC (emergency contraception) or the morning-after pill. Our blog on Plan B which tells you, among other things,  which pharmacies in Westchester stock Plan B, can be found at: OOPS Plan B Blog

   Karen Carroll-former coordinator of Westchester’s SANE program, Julie Frauenfelder of Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention and Services Program, and Yonkers City Council President Chuck Lesnick joined us in a call for education about Plan B. The Journal News and Channel 12 covered the Press Conference.

   Saturday we will be at the Yonkers Library.

  To buy a Plan B t-shirt, button, or any of the  other items that support this education project, click on:

 

Just think, what might have been if Bristol Palin
had known about Plan B…

«PRO-ACTIVELY DECREASING THE NUMBER OF UNINTENDED PREGNANCIES AND ABORTIONS«

JOIN US TOMORROW

March 13, 2009 11 am

Yonkers City Hall Steps/South Broadway

                              

YONKERS, NY:  On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, President Obama said, “no matter what our views, we are united in our determination to prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the need for abortion, and support women and families in the choices they make.”

 

On Friday, March 13, 2009 at 11 AM on the front steps of Yonkers City Hall, Choice Matters together with other women’s advocacy organizations including Victims Assistance Services, Julie Frauenfelder of Adolescent Pregnancy Prevention and Services Program, and Karen Carroll former Coordinator of the Westchester County Sexual Assault Nurse Examiner (SANE) Program, will put President Obama’s words into action by taking The Emergency Contraception (EC) Initiative-Plan B Education and Awareness Outreach to the streets of Yonkers.

 

“Armed with a recorder, educational materials and the Oops-Plan B couch we will work to empower the women of Westchester through education to take control of their lives.  The significant increase in teen pregnancy rates in both Westchester and the Tri-State Area is alarming.  We stand together in our belief that the dissemination of proper and correct information about Plan B can play a key role in reversing this trend, and in our determination that it is crucial to educate the public — particularly women — about Plan B, a.k.a Emergency Contraception, EC, or the morning-after pill,” declared Catherine Lederer-Plaskett, president of Choice Matters.

 

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FACTS ABOUT PLAN B

1. Plan B is a high dose of birth control that can be taken up to 5 days after sexual intercourse to prevent pregnancy although it is most effective when taken sooner.  Plan B is in NO WAY an abortion pill as it CANNOT terminate a pregnancy and does NOT have an effect on an already existing pregnancy.  It also does not protect against STIs.  Plan B does provide an alternative method of pregnancy prevention and when used within the first 3 days of unprotected sex it is up to 89% effective.  It still works within the 5-day window but its effectiveness does significantly decrease. 

 

2. Plan B is available over the counter if you are 18 or older, and if you are under 18 it is still available but you need a prescription to receive it and the prescription can be both prescribed and filled without parental consent, which is in accordance with New York State law.

 

According to the Guttmacher Institute: 1.94 million unintended pregnancies–including almost 400,000 teen pregnancies—and 810,000 abortions are prevented each year by publicly funded family planning services that provided millions of young and low-income women access to contraceptive services which include Plan B. In addition to the number of unintended pregnancies Plan B and other contraceptives prevent, there is the issue of cost. Publicly funded family planning services are highly cost-effective. More than 9 in 10 women receiving them would be eligible for Medicaid-funded prenatal, delivery and postpartum care services if they became pregnant. Avoiding the significant costs associated with these unintended births saves taxpayers. For every dollar spent on contraceptives, taxpayers save $4 in costs associated with unintended births to mothers eligible for Medicaid-funded natal care. (Guttmacher Institute, Joerg Dreweke, 2/24/2009)

 

 

 

 

Barack Obama’s victory in yesterday’s presidential election was also a victory for choice. In addition, Colorado voters soundly defeated an anti-choice measure that defines life as beginning at conception. In South Dakota, an abortion ban was defeated that would have limited abortion to cases of rape and endangerment of a woman’s health. In California, a parental notification and waiting period proposition is set to fail as well.

Local election results are available here. Our endorsed candidates Elliot Engel, Nita Lowey, John Hall, Jeffery Klein, Andrea Stewart Cousins, Ruth Hassel-Thompson, Suzi Oppenheimer, J. Gary Pretlow, Amy Paulin, Adam Bradley, Sandra Galef, George Latimer, Richard Brodsky, Michael Spano, and Susan Capeci all won their elections.

Here’s a toast to choice and the next 4 years!

Westchester County has added information about emergency contracption(EC or Plan B) to its website. For more information about EC visit http://www.westchestergov.com/health_ec.htm, or our Emergency Contraception site, OOPS Plan B.