Plan B Olympia

I’ve posted my pictures as a set on Flickr…if you have photos, post a link in the comments! (Don’t have a place for your photos online? Contact me at epersonae+planboly@gmail.com and I’ll help.)

Check it out on Olyblog!

• KUOW: Olympia Grocer Picketed Over Refusal to Stock Emergency Contraception
• The Olympian: Market owner resists calls to carry Plan B pill

More than 100 community members picketed Ralph’s on Wednesday evening, protesting the store’s refusal to carry emergency contraception.

On our first day, Plan B Oly received 117 pledges not to shop at Ralph’s, adding up to a total of over $24,000 a month in lost revenue for Ralph’s over this issue.

The picket continues Thursday, 6/29 from 5-7, Friday, 6/30 from 5-7 and Sunday, 7/2 from 5-7.

Missing happy hour to join the protest?  The Brotherhood Tavern downtown is extending happy hour prices all night long on Wednesday, June 28 to protesters at Ralphs!

• 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)
  

• Wednesday, June 28th, 5-7 p.m.
• Thursday, June 29th, 5-7 p.m.
• Friday, June 30th, 5-7 p.m.
• Sunday, July 2, 5-7 p.m.

Bring signs & fliers.

Janet will be hosting a signmaking party at her house on Tuesday evening. Email planboly@hotmail.com for more information.

Joining us June 28-30? Remember these handy tips for being a effective & legal protester:

• Do not physically block anyone from entering the store.
• Do not force yourself on people who don’t wish to speak to you.
• Avoid making statements that are untrue, i.e., it would be more prudent to say things like “Ralph’s Thriftway Pharmacy is in violation of state code established by the Pharmacy Board” rather than “Ralph’s hates women!”