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| Helping pharmacy & health communities improve access to Emergency Contraception (EC) |
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EC PHARMACY UPDATEThere is currently no known activity promoting direct pharmacy access to EC. Planned Parenthood of Alabama is mobilizing its affiliates to work on a variety of women’s issues. However, women’s access to EC in pharmacies has not been identified as a priority issue. A contraceptive equity bill was introduced in 2003 but not enacted. This was in part due to strong opposition by state insurance companies. A similar bill was introduced in 2004 and did not pass. Planned Parenthood of Alabama has been working to increase EC awareness on college campuses and is partnering with the University of Alabama at Birmingham on a pilot called the HOPE program in which birth control is provided to women without pelvic exams. Planned Parenthood sells EC in women’s health centers. EC access made headlines in April 2004 when the health department, to ensure receipt of federal funding, required that state clinics offer EC. The subsequent resignation of several nurses highlighted the issue of healthcare providers refusing service due to moral beliefs. A few months later, the policy was clarified to show that the health department was not required to make EC available. According to the Alabama Department of Health, easier access to EC would prevent more than 4, 000 of the 10,000 abortions in Alabama.
CONTACTSLouise Jones Planned Parenthood of Alabama Planned Parenthood of Alabama Felicia Brown Williams
USEFUL LINKSAlabama Board of Pharmacy Alabama Pharmacy Association Alabama Legislature Alabama Department of Public Health Planned Parenthood of Alabama
PROTOCOL ENVIRONMENTUnfriendly Environment: New Authority Required In this state, no authority exists for collaborative practice agreements. Any initiative to provide direct pharmacy access to EC would require significant advocacy activity to secure statutory and/or regulatory authority.
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