What Comes Before Plan B

The National Council of Jewish Women is in the midst of an energetic new campaign to ensure reproductive freedoms. “Plan A” riffs on the name of the emergency contraception pill, also known as “the morning-after pill,” or Plan B. Plan A is a major push to help women even with “night before” information. Plan A advocates for women’s universal access to contraceptive information and health services.

Plan A, launched a year ago, focuses on what NCJW identifies as five key issues related to women’s access to contraception in the United States: pharmacy refusals, emergency contraception, comprehensive sexual education, affordable contraception and young women’s access. NCJW strongly makes the case that denying women access to contraceptives because of religious beliefs or predispositions is a constitutionally untenable position — and, of course, that it’s wrong.

Offering fact sheets, guides for writing letters to the editor and visiting legislators as well as spreading the word in your community, NCJW is geared up to help activists reach out to like-minded individuals. And the same way preventative medicine can cut down on serious illness later on, there’s hope that Plan A will reduce the need for emergency contraception (called “emergency” for a reason) later on.