Doctors push `morning-after pill'
Campaign urges prescriptions that are written ahead
By Judith Graham Tribune staff reporter
Published May 9, 2006

Doctors raised the stakes in the nation's ongoing battle over emergency contraception Monday with a new campaign that encourages women to get an advance prescription for the "morning-after pill," so it will be readily available if they have unprotected sex.

The "Ask Me" campaign is organized medicine's most aggressive effort yet to ensure women have access to emergency contraception when they think they need it. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, which represents nearly 50,000 physicians, is the sponsor.

The goal is to encourage doctors to ask women of childbearing age if they would like an advance prescription for the morning-after pill "at every visit," said Dr. Douglas Laube, ACOG's president-elect and chair of the ob-gyn department at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. That way, if a woman has unprotected sex or contraception fails, she can take steps to prevent an unwanted pregnancy. the rest