It was just another party. The following morning, a bewildered young woman awoke in an unfamiliar bed -- alone in the presence of a male stranger. She couldn't recall what had happened. Typically, this clich situation would seem to be quite precarious -- the young woman could be pregnant. But, the hypothetical character is not the only one fearing unwanted conception: According to Advocates for Youth, an organization devoted to creating programs that educate youth about reproductive and sexual health, nearly 17 percent of sexually active teens did not use contraception the last time they had sex. Unmarried women and adolescents tend to have higher contraceptive failure rates. More than 20 percent of women were forced to have sexual intercourse -- approximately 72 percent of these women were under 20 years old during the experience.

Advocates for Youth adds yet another disconcerting fact for the possible prevention of teenage pregnancy:0 fewer than one-third of teenagers are aware that they can prevent pregnancy after unprotected sex. And less than one-third of teenagers know about the Emergency Contraceptive Pill (ECP).

Commonly referred to as "the morning-after" pill, ECPs aren't only effective when taken the morning after unprotected sex. In fact, ECPs can be used up to 120 hours after intercourse, but work best when the first dose is taken within 72 hours -- reducing the risk of pregnancy by up to 89 percent.

Two brands of the Federal Drug Administration-approved pill, Preven and Plan B, came onto the U.S. market only four years ago. Currently, 14 brands of pills are used as ECPs. Side effects include nausea, dizziness and cramping.

The RU-486 or Mifeprex, also known as "the abortion pill," is not to be confused with the ECP. While RU-486 and Mifeprex terminate an early pregnancy, ECPs use a higher dosage of the same hormones found in birth control pills to prevent pregnancy. The Alan Guttmacher Institute reported that the 43 percent decline in abortions between 1994 and 2000 is attributed to the ECP option -- dropping the abortion rate to its lowest since 1974. In 2000, it is estimated that 51,000 abortions were prevented by emergency contraception.

But, while our hypothetical character has the option to prevent pregnancy, it is not always a feasible task to get to a doctor, fill a prescription for an ECP or arrive at a family planning clinic -- especially with a time limit.

Although ECPs have been used in the past several years, recent advocates have been making vehement efforts to increase knowledge of the prevention option. According to Planned Parenthood, their Boston office recorded visits from 911 patients interested in ECPs during the last six months of 2002.

Nationally, many states are vying for increased accessibility to ECPs. Advocates in New York are hoping for the passage of two bills that would allow ECPs to be sold over-the-counter and would also mandate emergency rooms to offer the choice of emergency contraception to rape victims. In California and Washington, two of the 35 states that have decreased abortion rates, women can already receive ECPs without prescriptions. In addition, the Plan B brand is taking measures to extend convenience by applying for nonprescription status.

That's not to say that ECPs haven't already won numerous battles: Senator Patty Murray (Wash) and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter (NY) introduced federal legislation that would designate $10 million for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Health Resources and Services Administration in order to educate the public and health care providers on the ECP, and more than a dozen states' legislatures have been presented with bills to improve ECP access.

And now, students at Brandeis are afforded the prevention measure as well -- the Brandeis Health Center offers ECPs for $20. The decision to offer ECPs has received much support from the Student Sexuality Information Service.

"It is necessary to offer the ECP to Brandeis students, because it is a safe and effective option for women to use in case of contraceptive failure," SSIS Coordinator Julie Szymczak '03 said.

On campus, supporters of the pill are lauding its availability. The Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance, working under the Feminist Majority Foundation, has been making an attempt to influence the Federal Drug Administration to approve the ECP as an over-the-counter drug.

"A women's right to control her fertility is a key aspect of the feminist cause," FMLA President Lily Davidson '03 said. "Women have a right to know about the existence of the ECP and to have it available to them."

Davidson's sentiment isn't novel -- nearly 72 percent of American voters say they favor federal legislation that would inform the public about emergency contraception, according to a survey by the Reproductive Health Technologies Project. Eighty percent of Democrats, 76 percent of Independents and 60 percent of Republicans favor the expansion of the public's ECP knowledge.

"ECPs provide a way to greatly decrease the possibleneed for an abortion and the ECP is certainly easier, less expensive and less traumatic than a surgical procedure," FMLA Vice-President Maggie Frye '05 said. "ECPs should be available on campus, and at Brandeis we are very lucky that it is."

The United States has the highest unintended pregnancy rate of any country in the industrialized world, and has a significant amount of ECP supporters. Americans, according to the survey, support government involvement with the use and distribution of ECPs because it can potentially reduce the rate of unintended pregnancy by 1.5 million each year and cut the U.S. annual abortion rate in half. Three-quarters of these ECP advocates believe that the pill should be accessible to both adults and teenagers.

"I think that this is a liberal arts institution and every option should be open to people," said Pre-Health Society Co-President Joseph Sanders '03.
While many of Brandeis health-related and religious organizations don't seem to oppose the distribution of ECPs on campus, one increasingly widespread concern is the influence of the ECP on sexual decisions.

"I think more choices are better -- in that respect, I think that the ECP is good. But, it does allow for people to be more careless," said Muslim Student Association President Ammad N. Bahalim '04. "On the whole, for accidents and alike, it's better to be able to be given more options."

Some may be more reckless than others. Szymczak emphasizes that emergency contraception isn't justification for taking sexual risks.
"I believe that the ECP should not be used as a routine form of contraception. It is an option for emergencies and not an excuse to have unprotected sex," Szymczak said. "The ECP does not protect against sexual transmitted diseases, including HIV."
Despite numerous reservations, Brandeis students have adamantly encouraged the benefits of the ECP.

"The ECP in and of itself is a good idea, providing a safe and useful means of preventing an unwanted pregnancy in case other means of protection are not used or fail during intercourse," Health Education Leadership Program Co-Coordinator Viveka Prakash '03 said.

"I believe that anti-ECP people would say that the pill would encourage promiscuous sex, but I don't buy it. Unprotected sex happens all the time in various occasions whether one likes to admit it or not," said Buddhism Club member Kassian Polin '05. "... the ECP would increase the number of options available for the female involved in case of an unwanted pregnancy."

Outside the campus community, however, an abundance of groups contest the distribution of the ECP. According to Planned Parenthood, anti-choice organizations such as Stop Planned Parenthood International, American Life League and Human Life International have initiated international campaigns, spreading rumors about the hazards of ECPs and creating further misinformation about the ECP acting as an abortion pill.

In 1999, Wal-Mart declared that it would not provide Preven to customers in its nearly 2,400 pharmacies. Months later, Wal-Mart announced that pharmacists were instructed to fill birth control prescriptions as ECPs or refer customers to locations that would sell ECPs if they refused to do so.
Eighty-two percent of 600 Catholic hospital emergency rooms nationwide do not offer the ECP to rape victims.

"Nobody has the right to deprive you of the liberty of choice in such a sensitive manner," pre-law student Kelly Brotman '06 said.

Some Brandeis students prefer to focus on preventing the clich situation rather than preventing the aftermath.

Hope Hill '04, co-president of Brandeis Christian Fellowship said she has found that Brandeis "resources that are most readily available concerning relationships focus on the physical side of relationships." She continues "if in college we are laying a foundation for the rest of our lives, only addressing the sexual side of relationships will produce only that -- enjoyable sexual relationships."

"If people are educated on what the possible negative and positive outcomes may be of choosing to have intercourse, then they are more likely to make wiser decisions and have happier, more fulfilling sexual relationships," Prakash said.
Prakash continued, "People are going to have sex, no matter what.