Today and tomorrow, the Brandeis Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance is petitioning in dorms and Usdan to support a request by the makers of Plan B to make Emergency Contraception (EC) available without a prescription. Emergency contraception, currently available only by prescription, is 95 percent effective in preventing pregnancy if taken within 24 hours after unprotected sex or contraceptive failure, according to an FMLA press release. If it is made more readily available to women, EC could cut the number of unintended pregnancies in half, as well as reduce the abortion rate by 800,000 a year, the group says.

On March 20, the Women's Capital Corporation, the makers of the EC known as Plan B, will submit paperwork to the Food and Drug Administration requesting that the drug be available over the counter. There are currently more than 70 medical and women's health organizations that support over the counter distribution of EC, including the American Medical Association.

The Feminist Majority Foundation, the FMLA's parent organization, hopes the petition drive, an effort to collect 60,000 signatures throughout the United States in support of EC becoming an over-the-counter drug, will further pressure the FDA.

Plan B Emergency Contraception contains levonorgestrel, a synthetic hormone commonly used in birth control pills. It is considered both safe and effective by the FDA. Through the petition drive, Brandeis' FMLA hopes to make EC more readily available.

"It's an important issue," Brandeis FMLA President Lily Davidson said. "The reason why we want to get it done so quickly is so we can join with other women's forces and make a difference.