NARAL PRO-CHOICE MISSOURI FOUNDATION RELEASES REPORT ON MISSOURI WOMEN’S LACK OF ACCESS TO EC
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE MAY 11, 2005
9 OUT OF 10 RURAL MISSOURI PHARMACIES DO NOT STOCK EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION (EC)
NARAL PRO-CHOICE MISSOURI RELEASES COMPREHENSIVE REPORT DETAILING MISSOURI WOMEN’S LACK OF ACCESS TO EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION
Jefferson City, MO- At a press conference in Jefferson City yesterday morning, representatives of the NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri Foundation, the state’s leading advocate for personal privacy and a woman’s right to choose, unveiled the results of a ground-breaking Pharmacy Access Survey that show women in Missouri, especially those in rural communities, are at risk of not having access to legal form of birth control.
NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri’s Carolyn Sullivan and Melissa Kimball released findings from the Pharmacy Access Survey that surveyed 920 Missouri pharmacies. Ms. Sullivan and Ms. Kimball were accompanied by Senators Charles Wheeler and Joan Bray, and Representative Sara Lampe.
Throughout Missouri, women have a difficult time finding a pharmacy to dispense this legally prescribed medication. Almost 70% of pharmacies do not stock emergency contraception (EC), commonly referred to as the “morning-after pill.” However, women in rural Missouri are most at risk for not having access to this birth control, as 90% of rural pharmacies do not stock EC, and only 28% of remaining rural pharmacies reported they would order the product if it is requested by a customer.
“Most Missourians would be shocked to know that their pharmacy would refuse to order medication their doctor prescribed—but this extensive survey shows that women in our state cannot access a basic form of legally prescribed birth control,” said Carolyn Sullivan, Executive Director of NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri. “In many of the rural parts of the state there is only one pharmacy and that one pharmacy may refuse to fill a woman’s prescription. Women in rural parts of the state deserve the same access to medical care as women in large cities. At a time when everyone should be working to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, we find that women do not have access to one of the most promising forms of birth control.”
In early spring of 2005, the NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri Foundation conducted a population-based cross sectional survey on access to emergency contraception in Missouri. The survey includes the following findings that demonstrate Missouri women’s lack of access to emergency contraception:
-- Only 29% (265) of all pharmacists surveyed reported that their pharmacy stocked emergency contraception.
-- Of all 920 pharmacies surveyed by the NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri Foundation, 347, or 38%, do not stock EC and said “No” when asked if they could order EC.
-- Approximately 9 in 10 pharmacies in rural counties in Missouri do not stock EC.
-- Of the 131 pharmacies in rural areas that do not stock EC, only 28% of pharmacies reported that they would order EC.
-- Only 9% of hospital/hospital affiliated pharmacies reported stocking EC.
-- Less than 40% of hospital/ hospital-affiliated pharmacies said they would order EC.
-- 44% (152) of pharmacies that do not stock or order EC cited an explicit moral objection as the reason they would not stock or order the product.
-- 58% of all counties in Missouri have at least one pharmacy that is home to a pharmacist with an expressed moral objection to stocking, ordering or filling EC.
Background on Emergency contraception (EC): Often referred to as the morning-after pill, EC is a higher dose of ordinary birth control pills, which reduces a woman’s chance of becoming pregnant by up to 89 percent when taken within days of unprotected sex. EC prevents pregnancy by inhibiting ovulation, fertilization, or implantation before a pregnancy occurs, and does not work if a woman is already pregnant. It may be used when other birth control methods fail or are not used, including when women are sexually assaulted. It can dramatically reduce unintended pregnancy and the need for abortion.
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