Emergency Contraception (EC) Initiative

• Partnership & Collaboration
  Advocates for Youth works with statewide, teen pregnancy prevention coalitions to increase young people's awareness of and access to EC. Advocates for Youth offers resources, technical assistance, networking, and training to selected coalitions. The organisation also offers training and workshops focusing on building youth-adult partnerships for EC, fostering effective collaboration between health care providers and pharmacists, and linking youth-serving organisations and family planning clinics.
• Research & Technical Assistance
  Drawing on the initiative's Adolescent Emergency Contraception Clearinghouse, Advocates for Youth guides health care providers, sex educators, and other youth-serving professionals by analysing the latest research on EC and adolescents; developing case studies on model EC programmes; providing technical assistance on teen pregnancy prevention; offering EC lesson plans; and providing issue briefs and other educational materials on EC.
• Media Education & Outreach
  Advocates for Youth guides policy makers and the entertainment industry by tracking EC-related legislation; providing information (e.g., fact sheets, issue briefs, lesson plans, and pamphlets related to EC) and training; monitoring coverage of EC in teen-focused magazines; and encouraging depictions of responsible sexual behaviour, including EC use, in television programming. The organisation also conducts public education campaigns, including public service announcements (PSAs), radio tours, and press outreach.
• Mobilisation for Advocacy
  Using the internet, Advocates for Youth encourages young people to take an active role in advocating at local, state, and national levels for their right to receive EC. ICTs are used as a tool to provide peer education and materials written by youth for youth on EC and other sexual health issues.

  To cite two examples of this type of e-activism, the initiative developed a "A Puppet Parable of Politics & Polemics" that asked young people: "Who's fighting for your rights? Did you know that young women, regardless of age, in more than 30 countries around the world have access to emergency contraception (EC) without a doctor's prescription? But, not here in the United States!" Young people who log onto the programme website are able to watch a short puppet activist film - an electronic PSA - on these issues. A second e-film is designed to stimulate young people to engage in advocacy to make EC available without a doctor's prescription for all women. This PSA is a "spoof" of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)'s "hypocritical" decision to require this prescription, which the organisation claims is based on the faulty, ultra-conservative notion that EC promotes promiscuity. Viewers are provided with links to further information, and encouraged to email their friends to share the links. An online campaign toolkit is designed to help youth get creative about stimulating their peers to take action, such as signing an online petition and emailing their elected representatives (members of Congress).

Youth, Reproductive Health and Rights.

EC, also known as the "morning after pill", could avert about 50% of pregnancies and consequent abortions among United States teenagers each year, says Advocates for Youth. However, less than 25% of teenage women know that taking EC after unprotected intercourse can prevent pregnancy. Once informed about EC, most teens say they would use it in an emergency.

Advocates for Youth is a non-profit organisation engaging in efforts to "help young people make informed and responsible decisions about their reproductive and sexual health. Advocates believes it can best serve the field by boldly advocating for a more positive and realistic approach to adolescent sexual health."