10 Ways to Celebrate National Back Up Your Birth Control Day

Tuesday, March 20 is the sixth annual Back Up Your Birth Control Day of Action, and today, a coalition of more than 100 women's health and medical organizations will undertake dozens of educational activities nationwide. Their message is simple: back up your birth control with Emergency Contraception (EC), which can prevent pregnancy if taken up to 72 hours after unprotected intercourse. EC has been available over the counter in the United States since 2006, following a three-year political kerfuffle at the FDA. Women under 18 still need a prescription, which is why many of today's events will focus on increasing adolescent girls' access to information about EC. Here are a few ways to get involved (after the break) ...

Tuesday, March 20 is the sixth annual Back Up Your Birth Control Day of Action, and today, a coalition of more than 100 women's health and medical organizations will undertake dozens of educational activities nationwide. Their message is simple: back up your birth control with Emergency Contraception (EC), which can prevent pregnancy if taken up to 72 hours after unprotected intercourse. EC has been available over the counter in the United States since 2006, following a three-year political kerfuffle at the FDA. Women under 18 still need a prescription, which is why many of today's events will focus on increasing adolescent girls' access to information about EC. Here are a few ways to get involved:

1. Contact your Senator and ask her/him to support the Prevention First Act, which would ensure that survivors of sexual assault receive factually accurate information about EC (they often don't).

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2. Read up on common myths about EC here and here.

3. Join Planned Parenthood's Pill Patrol and find out if your neighborhood pharmacy is stocking EC.

4. Watch one of these videos from Planned Parenthood.

5. Take NARAL Pro-Choice New York's EC Campus Challenge.

6. Visit I Need EC, a website that provides teens with accurate, complete information on Emergency Contraception, including how they can legally access it.

7. Watch Alguna Vez en la Vida, an EC-themed special edition of the Nicaraguan soap opera Sexto Sentido (in Spanish). For more information about EC in Latin America, visit CLAE, the Latin American Consortium on Emergency Contraception.

8. Encourage your organization to become a Back Up Your Birth Control campaign co-sponsor.

9. Educate yourself about EC availability worldwide through the International Consortium for Emergency Contraception.

10. Become a local advocate for EC: order EC advocacy materials from Back Up Your Birth Control today!