PSA: Emergency Contraception/Plan B
Sep. 19th, 2006 09:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
anotheranonOn a more serious note:
After reading this story about a woman who was repeatedly denied emergency contraception because she didn't meet (several different) doctors' prudish "criteria", I feel motivated to post the following:
GetThePill.Com, online prescriptions for emergency contraception
How to use emergency contraception, including emergency dosages of ordinary birth control pills
How to use it, where to get it, search by state
Disclaimer: I'm not a medical professional, but speaking as a woman who has dealt with a scare before:
If you're a woman of childbearing age, I'd recommend getting a prescription for EC, getting it filled, and stockpiling it, just in case. Even if you're currently using some form of birth control, even if you don't have sex with men. Just because in spite of our best intentions things sometimes go awry, and no one should have to call every pharmacy in a 200 mile radius in an emergency situation.
Update, 10:15 pm: Just saw this post in which the author suggests getting a script filled even if you AREN'T fertile, in case a friend needs it. My doc did the snip, so he knows I don't need it, anyone think it's possible I could get it elsewhere?
After reading this story about a woman who was repeatedly denied emergency contraception because she didn't meet (several different) doctors' prudish "criteria", I feel motivated to post the following:
GetThePill.Com, online prescriptions for emergency contraception
How to use emergency contraception, including emergency dosages of ordinary birth control pills
How to use it, where to get it, search by state
Disclaimer: I'm not a medical professional, but speaking as a woman who has dealt with a scare before:
If you're a woman of childbearing age, I'd recommend getting a prescription for EC, getting it filled, and stockpiling it, just in case. Even if you're currently using some form of birth control, even if you don't have sex with men. Just because in spite of our best intentions things sometimes go awry, and no one should have to call every pharmacy in a 200 mile radius in an emergency situation.
Update, 10:15 pm: Just saw this post in which the author suggests getting a script filled even if you AREN'T fertile, in case a friend needs it. My doc did the snip, so he knows I don't need it, anyone think it's possible I could get it elsewhere?
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no subject
Date: 2006-10-13 02:01 pm (UTC)I'm angry that basic knowledge of how the medical system works is not commonplace. If it had been, this would have been prevented.
1. If a pharmacist refuses to fill your OC prescription or provide you with emergency OC on moral grounds, you have the legal right to demand they either give you back the prescription or find you a pharmacist who will fill it.
2. Under EMTALA, no ER can turn you away without an initial triage. Regardless of your insurance status. That's a federal mandate. The nurse who 'discouraged' her from coming in? That was an EMTALA violation.
Not saying it was her fault.
More that most patients are so ill-informed about how the system works that it's not surprising they get the runaround like this.
no subject
Date: 2006-10-14 05:49 pm (UTC)What can you suggest to people so that they can be better prepared to face roadblocks like this?