Plan A Quiz: Test Your Knowledge
Special Section on Plan A: NCJW's Campaign for Contraceptive Access
by NCJWA pioneer in the fight for birth control, NCJW has long believed that the availability of contraception is key to the economic independence, well-being, and equality of women. Although contraception is widely supported in the US, it is not universally accessible, even long after legal barriers were thought to have been dismantled once and for all.
Plan A: NCJW's Campaign for Contraceptive Access aims to secure and protect access to contraceptive information and options. A community-based, proactive national campaign, Plan A empowers individuals and groups to take action for contraceptive access.
PERSONAL DECISIONS, PUBLIC ACTION
Plan A works toward ensuring that all women — regardless of economic status, age, or location — have the information and options they need to prevent unwanted pregnancies and disease.
How much do you know about access to contraception? Take this challenging quiz to find out!
1. The vast majority of Americans support the availability of birth control — and they use it. What percent of American women have used a contraceptive at some point in their lives?
2. How many millions of unwanted pregnancies have been prevented over the past decade, thanks to family planning clinics for low-income women that are funded by Title X of the federal Public Health Service Act?
3. Nearly half of all 15- to 19-year-olds in the United States have had sex at least once. What chance does a sexually active teenager who does not use contraceptives have of becoming pregnant within a year?
4. Pharmacists have refused to fill birth control prescriptions — including emergency contraception — in at least 19 states. What steps can you take if you or someone you care about has trouble getting a birth control prescription filled?
5. When taken within 72 hours of unprotected sex or birth control failure, Plan B emergency contraception can reduce the risk of pregnancy by up to 89%. Plan B prevents pregnancies — it does not end them. It works in the same way as other hormonal birth control methods, like the pill or the patch. How does Plan B prevent pregnancy?
6. Unlike comprehensive sexuality education, which includes information about abstinence and contraception, abstinence-only-until-marriage programs do not significantly affect the rate of abstinence, according to a 2007 congressional report, yet they continue to receive generous government funding. Since 1996, how much has the federal government spent on abstinenceonly programs?
7. In how many states has the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission or the courts determined that refusal to provide contraceptive coverage (as part of prescription drug coverage) is sex discrimination?
(Download answers under Related Links)