xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CHOICE-NET REPORT For Week ending June 4, 1994 xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CHOICE-NET REPORT is a weekly update on reproductive rights issues distributed through email, Women's Wire, gopher.WELL.com, Usenet groups alt.activism, talk.abortion, soc.women, and other Internet channels. Please reprint, distribute and TAKE ACTION. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx THE MEDIA DISCOVER THE MORNING-AFTER PILL A number of media stories appeared this week about the Ovral birth control pill. Interest in the use of RU-486 as a post-coital (or morning-after) birth control measure may have helped shift the spotlight onto this little known use of common birth-control pills. It's been almost 20 years since the first studies on morning-after pills were published. According to researchers at Northwestern University Medical School and the John Hopkins University School of Medicine, the morning after birth control pill, Ovral, could prevent 1.7 million unintended pregnancies and 800,000 abortions in the U.S. each year. Why then don't more people know about it? The answer may be one simple word. Profit. A spokesperson for the manufacturer of Ovral, Wyeth-Ayerst Laboratories of Philadelphia (a division of American Home Products Corp.), said they have not sought government approval for Ovral's use as a morning-after pill because "it is not one of our research priorities" and "the feeling is that it would be quite costly" to provide the necessary documentation to win approval. Not only would the company incur the cost of research and the FDA approval process, but they would almost certainly face the prospect of anti-choice boycotts of other Wyeth-Ayerst products. Anti-choice activists claim the morning-after pill destroys fertilized eggs and is therefore an abortifacient. Medical researchers are undecided about whether the pill works prior to or after fertilization. Data shows the pill is 75 percent effective - that is, it reduces a woman's chances of becoming pregnant at her most fertile time from about 25 percent to about 6 percent. The post-coital treatment consist of two Ovral pills within 72 hours of unprotected sexual intercourse and two more tablets 12 hours later. According to researchers, the same pregnancy prevention can be achieved with lower-dose birth control pill brands Lo/Ovral, Nordette, Levien, Triphasil and Tri-Levien by doubling the number of tablets. Side effects of the use of Ovral as a morning-after pill include nausea and the other side effects associated with birth control pills. In Europe Ovral is marketed, available and used as a morning-after pill and will soon be available over the counter in Britian. How long will it be before American women to have the same option? xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx ANTI-CHOICE BOYCOTT ANNOUNCED AS EXPECTED Wanda Franz, president of the National Right to Life Committee, announced that anti-choice groups will boycott products made by Hoechst AG, the German parent company of Roussell Uclaf, the French manufacturer of RU-486 as well as the American subsidiaries Hoechst Celanese , a chemical company and Hoechst Roussel, a pharmaceutical manufacturer. Hoechst Celanese called the boycott decision "misdirected." Sandra Waldman of the Population Council, said she doubts the boycott will have any effect on the process of getting RU-486 into the American marketplace. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx MILWAUKEE PROTESTERS CHALLENGE FACE Protesters chained and cemented themselves to cars blocking an abortion clinic in Milwaukee Saturday and claimed to be the first to violate the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act (FACE) signed by President Clinton on May 26. FACE prohibits protesters from blocking access to women's health clinics or threatening patients and employees. "It is wrong for any law to penalize lifesaving action," said Monica Migliorino Miller, spokeswoman for the protesters. "Milwaukee pro-lifers are the first in the nation to `break FACE' for the sake of protecting the defenseless unborn," she said. At least five protesters used cement and chains to fasten themselves to two vehicles blocking the doors to the clinic. Firefighters freed them. Across the street, other protesters erected 3-foot-high white crosses, sang hymns and prayed. Police Sgt. Paul Smallish said eight people were arrested on state disorderly conduct charges. The FBI is investigating to see whether federal charges should be brought against them. Twenty to 25 demonstrators from several area anti-abortion groups gathered at the site. The clinic, Affiliated Medical Services, was closed for about 90 minutes because of the protest. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx OPERATION RESCUE CAMPING AND BABY-SAVING TOUR OF CALIFORNIA From the Operation Rescue of California May 1994 newsletter: OR is inviting pro-lifers from around the nation to join them on a camping and baby-saving tour of California, June 25 - July 23. Pro-lifers will travel in cars, vans and motor homes all over California in a "Life Caravan." saving babies by day, and roasting marshmallows around campfires by night. "It's a vacation for the whole family...Wagon train style, OR will lead pro-lifers on a Tour of Shame, visiting abortionists in their home neighborhoods. "Imagine an abortionist leaving his home and not seeing not just two people asking him to repent, but seeing a mile of trailers bearing signs saying, 'Dr. Smith, stop killing babies.' ...National pro-life leaders Pat Mahoney and Joseph Foreman are coming with their families, and Randall Terry, Keith Tucci and Flip Benham have also been invited to come." For more information call 909-336-2012 (office) 714-966-5173 (info line)." California pro-choice groups are organizing to respond to the expected assaults on clinics and doctors. For more information, email dtv@well.com. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx CHOICE-NET NOTES Your intrepid editor is gathering a list of pro-choice and activist resources available on the Internet, BBS's and commercial services. If you have a favorite information source, let others know about it. The list will be published in an upcoming edition of the CHOICE-NET REPORT. Send info to dtv@well.com. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Information Sources: California Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League-North, Alan Guttmacher Institute, Reproductive Freedom News, Culture Watch, Political Woman, various Congresspersons, various newspapers, C-Span, CNN, Reuters, AP, and UPI. Editor: Kathy Watkins, Administrative Director, CARAL-North .