Medically accurate information and access to reproductive healthcare promotes good family planning and prevents disease. We fund community programs to increase prevention education and access to clinical services.
Find Out More
When young people know all the facts, they make better decisions. When you give them access, you empower then to act responsibly. These programs demonstrate how South Carolina can chart a better course for everyone, in just one generation.
Learn More
South Carolina Emergency Contraception Initiative
In the summer of 2005, a young rape victim entered a South Carolina emergency room. She asked for medication to help her prevent pregnancy. Despite a state law that requires emergency rooms to provide this medication, the staff said no.
Several months later, New Morning Foundation partnered with Advocates for Youth to increase awareness and unrestricted access to emergency contraception. In surveys, they found that healthcare professionals and young women had misinformation: Both groups often confused emergency contraception (known as EC or Plan B) with RU-486 (the abortion pill).
Since its launch, the initiative has worked with hundreds of healthcare professionals, hospitals, university health centers, and pharmacies. It has distributed information to thousands of young women between the ages of 18 and 24 and maintains a website,
www.morningafterinfo.org. These efforts have reached an estimated 450,000 people.
A nurse at a small college told New Morning that her administration refused to allow the student health center to prescribe or dispense EC. Armed with materials from an Initiative training session, the nurse met with the administration, which then reversed its position. Now 1500 women at her college have unrestricted access to EC through the college health center.
“I had an agreement with my employer that I did not have to provide medication to customers, even when they had a valid prescription, if it went against my religious beliefs. Many women came to me for EC, but I refused to provide it because I thought it would cause an abortion.
But now I know that I was basing my actions on incorrect information. Now I happily give women information about EC and I am pleased to fill prescriptions for it.”
Natalie
CVS pharmacist in Charleston