Plan B Olympia

The boycott continues!

Come join us for a picket action
outside of Ralph’s Thriftway
in support of Plan B availability
Weds, August 29th, from 4:30pm to 6:00pm

HERE IS AN EVENT FLYER (pdf file) FOR DOWNLOAD
- TO PRINT-OUT, DISTRIBUTE and/or forward to others
PLAN B RALLY - PICKET RALPH’S AUG 29th

Thanks so much for your continued support and efforts! and see you on the 29th!

First of all, we apologize if you were unable to reach the site early today.  Our web host, Dreamhost, has been having some troubles lately — some related to recent power outages in California — but we seem to be okay now.

Secondly, thank you for all your support in July.  I just came back from our most recent protest, and it’s great to see all the enthusiastic picketers, and to hear the honking and cheering from our supporters.  According to our pledges, more than 300 people have pledged to boycott Ralph’s Thriftway and Bayview, amounting to more than $50,000 in lost revenue for Stormans.

We will be continuing our protests through August.  Our calendar will be updated soon.  If you are protesting individually or in pairs, you may want to bring copies of our handout. [4-up handout (MS Word format)] Please hand them to people who ask about the protest.

This week nine local women have filed complaints with the Pharmacy Board against Ralph’s Thriftway pharmacy.  More about this later!

Here’s an updated version of the “50’s style” flier (PDF) with the updated picketing dates. Download, print, and distribute!

Chris Baldwin, local Olympian cartoonist and Plan-B sympathizer, has generously drawn this comic in honor of this effort. Please feel free to print it out and make fliers, handbills and giant POSTERS! We hope to have t-shirts available with this graphic soon.

Can’t come by the protest to fill out a boycott card?  You can still let the Stormans know how much you won’t be spending.  We’re collecting pledges online, too.  Send your boycott pledge today!

Download the boycott car sign — print as many copies as you like and post them in your car! Each page has three signs to cut apart and share with friends. We recommend bright pink paper.

Thanks to Rachel for the great idea! Do you have a design for a flier, button, or sign? Email it to epersonae+planboly@gmail.com.

(Update: now includes both Ralph’s & Bayview.)

• Women, and all patients, depend on their pharmacy to provide access to the full range of medications they might need to stay healthy. Isn’t it good business and good community partnering to put customers’ health first? Every other pharmacy in our area does.
• The World Health Organization includes the emergency contraceptive pill (Plan B) on their list of essential medicines under “oral hormonal contraceptives.”
• Emergency contraception pills contain hormones that reduce the risk of pregnancy when started within 120 hours of unprotected intercourse. However, Plan B does lose effectiveness after 24 hours so timely access to this medication is critical to Ralph’s customers.
• Contraceptive use is a private and personal matter. Women may already be feeling apprehensive, scared, and intimidated when they ask a pharmacist for emergency contraception. A woman asking for emergency contraception may have been sexually assaulted. Being turned away can further traumatize an already vulnerable customer.
• Emergency contraception is not abortion - it is birth control, acting just like regular birth control pills. The FDA states that EC (emergency contraception) is not effective if a woman is already pregnant. Emergency contraception prevents a pregnancy, it does not terminate a pregnancy. It acts principally by delaying or inhibiting ovulation and fertilization.
• *Experts estimate that wider access to emergency contraception could prevent up to 1.7 million unintended pregnancies - and 800,000 abortions - a year. For those opposed to abortion, isn’t Plan B a big help? Or is it not just abortion but a woman’s ability to contol her own body that is really in question?
• *This issue is much broader than Ralph’s decision to single out emergency contraception as something they refuse to carry. What will be next–anti-retroviral drugs for HIV positive customers because they might not be heterosexual?

Ralph’s decision not to carry Plan B emergency contraception means that they don’t support their women customers. Will their women (and caring men) customers keep supporting them?

[Download a copy of this fact sheet.]

Two new fliers…post them widely!

• Sorry little lady… (PDF)
  
• Retro style? yes! Retro morality? no! (PDF)
  

Spread the word about Ralph’s Thriftway, the Stormans and Plan B:

• 2-up flier (PDF)
• 8 1/2 x 11 flier (PDF)

Download and print as many as you want!