The Milwaukie Democrat is sponsoring a bill that would allow pharmacies to dispense emergency contraception without a doc's prescription. Emergency contraception, marketed under such brand names as Plan B and Preven, is basically a high dose of birth-control pills. The hormones can prevent pregnancy from occurring 75 to 89 percent of the time. However, timing is everything. To be effective, the dose must be taken within 72 hours of intercourse.
Doctors are notoriously unavailable at such times, but the corner pharmacist is always there.
Lowe says she knows the system works, because Washington became the lone state to offer morning-after pills straight from the pharmacist two years ago. In fact, Portland women in the know just drive north across the Columbia River in an emergency. There are more than 13,000 unplanned pregnancies in Oregon every year. Maura Roche of Planned Parenthood says about half of those result in abortions. Lowe believes that if her bill is successful, most of these abortions would be prevented by emergency contraception.