Planned Parenthood Offering Free Emergency Contraception on Monday, March 25, 2013
For Immediate Release: Jan. 30, 2014
MEMPHIS, TN – On Monday, March 25, 2013, Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region (PPGMR) is offering free packs of Next Choice® emergency contraception at its health center at 2430 Poplar Avenue to the first 100 patients who request it. No appointment is needed. This is a savings of at least $50 per pack over pharmacy prices.
Planned Parenthood’s free offer is part of the national Back Up Your Birth Control campaign, designed to expand access to emergency contraception by increasing public education and awareness about this very safe and effective method of preventing pregnancy up to five days after unprotected sex.
“This offer of free emergency contraception will be a great benefit to young women and low-income women or those whose insurance does not cover emergency contraception,” said Barry Chase, PPGMR’s CEO. “It’s a good idea for women to keep a pack of emergency contraception on hand in case their regular birth control method fails.”
Emergency contraception, also known as EC or the “morning after pill,” contains a higher dose of the same hormone used in the well-known birth control pill. It works by delaying or preventing ovulation, or the release of an egg from a woman’s ovary, when taken within five days of unprotected intercourse. It may also inhibit the movement of sperm, thereby preventing fertilization. A study released last year led the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics to declare that emergency contraception does not cause abortion.
Emergency contraception use is growing, but too many women either don’t know about it or lack access to it. A report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention last month shows that use of emergency contraception more than doubled in the U.S. between 2006 and 2010. Use of EC was highest among white and highly educated women.
Planned Parenthood’s regular prices for emergency contraception are the most affordable in the Mid-South:
• $20 for women age 17 and older
• $25 for women age 16-13 (includes prescription)*
*By federal law, emergency contraception is available only by prescription for teens age 16 and younger.
Planned Parenthood is the nation’s leading provider of reproductive health care. One in five American women visits a Planned Parenthood health center at some time in her life for family planning services, annual exams, STD testing and treatment, cancer screenings and related reproductive health care. For more information about the services offered by Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region, visit our website at www.plannedparenthood.org/memphis.
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Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region (PPGMR), founded in 1938, is an affiliate of Planned Parenthood Federation of America. PPGMR’s mission is to ensure broad public access to reproductive and related health care through clinic services, education, advocacy and community partnerships in serving 42 counties in West Tennessee, North Mississippi and East Arkansas.
Source
Planned Parenthood Greater Memphis Region
Contact
Joan Carr
Director of Community Affairs
(901) 725-3008
Published
March 15, 2013