The Food and Drug Administration has now “indefinitely” put off a decision on making Plan B – also called Emergency Contraception (EC) and the Morning-After Pill — available over-the-counter. The FDA promised, during (then acting) FDA Commissioner Lester Crawford’s confirmation hearings, to issue a final decision by September 1, 2005. Senators Hillary Rodham Clinton and Patty Murray then released the hold they had placed on Crawford’s confirmation. And as soon as Crawford became the official head of the FDA, he issued the ruling earlier than promised – proving that even US Senators need access to Plan B.
For years the MAP Conspiracy has been fighting to make sure that all women can get EC in an emergency.
Here is the latest information on what the MAP Conspiracy is, what they are doing to protect the right of all women to take control of their own reproduction, and what you can do to help tomorrow, tonight … and the morning after.
We are the MAP Conspiracy.
MAP Conspiracy’s name is a tongue-in-cheek reference to the fact that so many women have to conspire to break the law in order to get the Morning After Pill.
We began passing out the pills publicly on February 15, 2004. Our campaign uses speak-outs and civil disobedience to highlight the injustice of the prescription requirement and to show that women are the real experts on why women need unrestricted access to the Morning-After Pill.
We have held speak-outs and passed out the pill in New York City, Washington, D.C., Rockville, MD and Gainesville, Florida.
Over 2,700 women around the country have pledged to “Give a friend the Morning-After Pill” in defiance of the prescription requirement. You can sign the pledge at www.mapconspiracy.org
This fight is over nothing less than birth control– and the FDA, along with its friends of the Rapture Right — seem determined to keep this safe and effective way of preventing pregnancy out of women’s hands.
- For four years the FDA has ignored a citizen’s petition requesting that Emergency Contraception be available without a prescription.
- The FDA’s own advisory panels unanimously said EC was safe and voted 23 to 4 that it should be sold over-the-counter.
- The American Medical Association, the New England Journal of Medicine and other mainstream medical organizations say that EC is safe.
- Major newspapers all over the country have run editorials in favor of over-the-counter sales, and more than 3,000 women across the nation have pledged to commit acts of civil disobedience by giving out the Morning-After Pill to friends who need it (www.mapconspiracy.org to sign the pledge)
The FDA has already received thousands of calls, emails and letters from women who want EC available over-the-counter.
How much more “public comment” does the FDA need?
ACTIONS AROUND THE COUNTRY
NEW YORK
On Tuesday August 30th at 1pm, outside the NYC Office of the Department of Health and Human Services, the Women’s Liberation Birth Control Project is holding a press conference and then, in an act of civil disobedience, passing out packages of the Morning-After Pill to
women who want it. Come on your lunch break!WHEN: Tuesday August 30th from 1-1:45pm
WHERE: 26 Federal Plaza, Jacob K. Javits Federal Building. Sidewalk
in front of main entrance on Broadway.CONTACT: Annie (917) 842-5306 or Cecilia (917) 859-9379
DIRECTIONS: From R/W City Hall Subway stop walk north on Broadway 3 blocks. Women will be holding signs. The exact location is Broadway between Duane and Thomas Streets.
WASHINGTON DC
National Organization for Women, has called a National Day of Action on Emergency ContraceptionWHERE: U.S. Department of Health and Human Service 200 Independence Avenue, S.W. Washington, D.C. 20201
WHEN: Tuesday, August 30 @ 12:00 pm
CONTACT: Phone: (202) 628-8669
GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA
Members of the MAP Conspiracy in Gainesville, FL will be setting up a Feminist Phone Booth for the upcoming weeks so women can call Lester
Crawford on the spot and give him their opinions.Please help by donating your time, your money or your cell phone minutes to the Feminist Phone Booth so we can give Lester Crawford the public opinion he has asked for!
In solidarity with the actions in NY and DC, we will be faxing 3,000 pledge signatures directly to Lester Crawford on Tuesday.
CONTACT: 352-380-9934 to help out.
Utah NOW Young Feminist Task Force and Campus Action Network
Contact: Meghan at (801) 949-4546
CALL LESTER CRAWFORD and PILE ON THE PRESSURE!
Call Commissioner Crawford on Tuesday, and any day after that, and tell him to make Plan B available over-the-counter for all women.
You can leave him a message at (301) 827-2410 during business hours, or email him at d.commissioner@fda.hhs.gov
With actions in NY and DC, faxes and calls, we can give the FDA the “public opinion” they are asking for!
DONATE
Your financial contribution will help us pay for cell phone minutes for the Feminist Phone Booth.
It will help us organize a civil disobedience action in New York City, organize women across the country to call the FDA, and even go to Washington DC if necessary
- To use a credit card or direct withdrawal from your bank account,go to Paypal.com, and donate any amount, using the email address lisa@gainesvillenow.org
- To mail in a check, make checks payable to:
Gainesville Area NOW
PO Box 2235, Gainesville, FL, 32602-2235
(please put Morning-After Pill in the memo line)
Actions are taking place all over the country. Let us know if you are having one in your town.
You can reach the Morning-After Pill Conspiracy at:
352-380-9934 (FL)
917-842-5306 (NY)
mapconspiracy04@hotmail.com
www.mapconspiracy.org