Advocacy Project: Letter and Fact Sheet

December 5, 2010

Amy Klobuchar

U.S. Senate

302 Hart Senate Office Building

Washington, DC 20510

VOTE YES ON H.R. 5561: EMERGENCY CONTRACEPTION EDUCATION ACT OF 2010

The proposed bill on educating others' about emergency contraception use is very important. Emergency contraception would significantly lower the rates of teen or unwanted pregnancies. Instead of aborting the baby or having to go through the adoption process, ovulation would never occur. As a soon to be health educator I feel every person should know there are options out there if an accident were to ever happen. The use of this pill would help lower the cost of unwanted and unplanned pregnancies.

This act would provide education to people who are interested in knowing more about emergency contraception. Educating others' on this would help lower pregnancy rates, abortion, and adoption processes. According to the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG), "Nealy half (49%) of the more than 6 million pregnancies that occur each year are unplanned". Also, the effectiveness for emergency contraception can be as high as to 89 percent (ACOG 2010). Mistakes and accidents happen so lets inform people there are options out there to help.

Opponents of this bill may say emergency contraception is abortion or parents/guardians may feel it will be an incentive for kids to be sexually active. Kids will do whatever they want to do. Parents and guardians need to face the reality that they cannot be there for every part of their children's lives so we need to have another plan, like education. If we are able to educate kids or people in general, they will know they have this option and can choose for themselves whether to use it or not. Also, emergency contraception is not abortion. It stops ovulation so the sperm and egg do not meet. With the use of education, we can reach out to many people and provide them with resources to meet their needs.

I appreciate your support on health care, education, and family and children. Family planning is very important in all three of these groups. I hope you realize how important this is for people out there and vote "yes" to H.R. 5561. If I could provide you with any other information, please contact me.

Alicia

Emergency Contraception Use

Fact Sheet

What is Emergency Contraception?

Emergency contraception, also called the morning-after pill, is a pill that prevents pregnancy after unprotected sex. It can be started up to five days after intercourse.

When should you use emergency contraception?

• condom broke or slipped off, and he ejaculated in you
• you forgot to take your birth control, you are not on birth control, or birth control was ineffective (e.g. ring fell out, diaphragm slipped out of place)
• miscalculated your "safe" days"
• you were forced to have unprotected sex or were raped

How does emergency contraception work?

Emergency contraception is made of progestin, one of the hormones found in birth control pills. The hormone in the morning-after pill keeps the ovaries from releasing an egg so sperm and the egg never meet. This pill also thickens the cervical mucus, which blocks the sperm and egg from joining.

How effective is emergency contraception?

There are many different brands of emergency contraception. Some of the more popular brands are Plan B One-Step, Ella, and Next Choice. These brands reduce the risk of pregnancy by 89 percent when started within three days of unprotected intercourse. This is effective up until five days after intercourse but gets less effective as time goes on.

How safe is emergency contraception?

The morning-after pill is safe. It does not have the same risks as taking ongoing birth control because this is made for a one-time use.

What are the disadvantages of emergency contraception?

There can be side effects while using the morning-after pill. Nausea and throwing up are the most common side effects. However, many women feel fine after taking it. Other side effects of the morning-after pill may include:

• breast tenderness
• irregular bleeding
• dizziness
• period may become irregular (come earlier or later, last longer or shorter)

Where can you get emergency contraception?

Emergency contraception is available from drugstores, clinics, or outlook clinics. Women and men older than 17 do not need a prescription. If you are younger than 17 you will need to go to a health center like a clinic to get a prescription. Places like Planned Parenthood or outlook clinics are a convenient and fast way to receive the morning-after pill. They are also able to bill most insurance companies if you do not have sufficient funds to pay for it.

Information provided by Planned Parenthood

Reflection: Weeks 9-12

I know everyone, including me, has said this over and over again but where has this semester gone?! I feel like three weeks ago we were just learning how to blog now we all have our blogs decorated fancy with cool backgrounds and tools and are making our posting so interesting and fun. Lets see, in the past four weeks we have learned a lot about:

• Advocacy (Advocacy Prjoects)
• Healthy People/THOMAS
  
• Eco-Chic Lifestyle Choices (SMART goal)
• Photo Essays
• Junking

I think two of the most important things we have done in the past four weeks are our advocacy and eco-chic projects. Because of this class I was obligated to find out about our political representatives. This actually made me happy because everyone should at least know who their representatives are. I am usually up-to-date with politics but this year I just had too many things going on. I also enjoyed being able to look on the Healthy People and THOMAS sites for current bills or proposals that are trying to be passed. Since our blogging groups are larger I was able to read about many different bills and why others' felt they should be passed.

Our SMART goals were another fun project. It was cool seeing how and why everyone picked their goals the way they did. Being able to receive positive feedback and constructive criticism from my groups members really helped me stay on track and become more eco-friendly.

Personally, I had a lot of fun with the photo essay. I was able to go to my friend Emily's farm, which I had wanted to do for a while. It was very exciting to be able to see things like this first hand because it puts things into perspective. It was also fun being able to see what others photo essays were about. I think our junking projects are going to be a lot like the photo essay. We are able to pick or make whatever we want to do and then show the class. I am excited to see what people make with their "junk".

Overall, besides learning a lot of from our eco-chic and advocacy projects, I have learned a lot from my group members. By switching groups and having to post individual messages on each blog I have got to know a lot of people in the class. I have read what others are doing, what interests them, and what they think of what I do. I love posting and reading the comments because then I get others' opinions and suggestions. Blogging is a good way to network, get others' opinions and ideas, and post what is on your mind.

Picture Source: Permission is granted to copy, distribute and/or modify this document under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License

Share & Voice: Wrap Recipe

Pepper Roll-Ups

Well since I have had a lot of requests for the wrap recipe I made for class, I decided to post it to my blog for anyone to have! They are very easy and usually a crowd pleaser!

Ingredients:

• 1 package of Whole-Wheat Tortillas (Any type of tortilla would work)
• 1 package of Neufchatel Cheese (Any type of cream cheese works)
• 1 jar of Jalapeno Pepper slices
  
• 1 jar of Roasted Red peppers
• 1/2 tsp Cumin (Can alter to your taste)
• 1 bag of Shredded Cheese
  
• 1 package of turkey (optional)

Directions:
Mix cream cheese and cumin. Spread across wraps. Finely chop jalapenos and red peppers. Sprinkle shredded cheese and peppers over wraps. Roll up and cut into thicker slices so ingredients do not fall out. If using turkey or other meats put on meat after sprinkling shredded cheese then put on peppers.

The great thing about this recipe is you can really make it however you want. You can alter or change the ingredients to your liking. Other ingredients you could use are ham, roast beef, olives, other types of peppers, other spices, and etc. Hope you all enjoy! Also, if there are any questions just ask!

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 4: Weekly Update

My SMART goal is I will only eat 3 servings (serving= 3 oz) of hormone-free, grass-fed meat, per week. I did a good job at achieving my SMART goal.

My successes were once again being able to find hormone-free meat, eating out less, having more of a variety of foods, and influencing others. Since I started to look over the meat I eat I do not feel as bad when I do eat it. By having more meat in my meals it has added variety because I was getting bored with, my usual veggie sandwich. Over Thanksgiving break I talked to my family about what we have been learning and my SMART goal. My mom and sister were very interested in what I had to say. My sister is already a bit of a "freak" about her meat so I think it is safe to say I have her on "my side". :) It was also a great experience being able to see first hand a farm that raises animals the natural way. Shepard's Homestead raises grass-fed cattle and hormone-free chickens.

My challenges have still been when I do go out to eat or when I go home. Going out to eat has not been as big of a challenge since I cut back on that but with the holidays approaching I have been going home a lot. When I go home, meat is definitely one of the items on the menu for every meal. When I asked my dad if the deli meat was hormone-free he gave me the funniest look. Looks like I still have some rubbing off to do on some of my family members.

I feel I am doing very good on being consistent with my SMART goal. A couple of times I have slipped up but I got right back on track. I am happy with the outcome so far. I learned this past week that with accurate information you can really make an impact on others' lives. I took everything we have learned from Environmental Health and told it to my family in a nutshell. We ended up having about a 30 minute conversation about how some animals are butchered and how unethical it is (We didn't have this chat at the most ideal time either...after stuffing ourselves with Turkey).

I think for next week I am going to change my goal to: I will eat 4 servings (serving= 3 oz.) of hormone-free meat, per week. Since I have started to eat more meat I realized how many of my meals before were blah. I plan to keep up with this goal while influencing others to do the same.


"Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 4 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain."

Eye Opener: Photo Essay

For my Photo Essay I decided to visit a sixty acre farm called Sheperd's Homestead located in Oulu, Wisconsin. It is owned by Larry and Margie Falter, my friend Emily's parents. I chose to visit their farm for many reasons. One day I was talking to my friend Emily about this assignment because I wanted to do something I would enjoy. She ended up telling me about her family farm and it really caught my attention. They raise their own animals and eat what their animals produce. I asked her if there were any days she had free to make the 60 mile drive to visit. We chose this past Saturday to make the drive. It was awesome meeting with her family and seeing all of the different things they do to make ends meet. Some of the things they do on the farm are:

• Raise grass-fed beef cattle (Hay and grain during the Winter)
• Raise chickens ( 2 separate types)- Eat the eggs and meat they produce
• Harvest a garden during summer months-sell produce to people in the community (There are 2 gardens)
• Use products produced on farm (grind grain to make flour, drink milk from dairy cows)
• Have sheep-eat meat; sell wool (Biggest seller on the farm for the meat)
• Make homemade applesauce/cider, spaghetti sauce, yogurt, bread, salsa, pickles
• Excess products get canned during winter months; eat fresh during summer months

Farm Fresh Eggs

Ground Beef from their farm

Fresh Bread made from the grain produced in the field

Homemade Yogurt and Strawberry Jam

Milk from the neighbor's dairy cow and container used to hold the milk

Layer Hens in their coop

Beef Cows eating their hay

Sheep in the hay bed

Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3: Weekly Update

My SMART goal is, I will only eat 3 servings (serving= 3 oz) of hormone-free, grass-fed meat, per week. I did a great job at achieving my goal this past week. I am actually very happy with myself.

During this week I bought Hormel 100% Natural Turkey, Ham, and Roast Beef. This meat also has no added hormones, MSG, and is gluten-free. It surprised me because like most people, you think the "better" choice is going to be much more expensive when in reality it is not. For one package of meat it was only $3.98! This is even cheaper than some of your other choices of deli meat. My success at the store gave me a boost of confidence that I can do this. Some disadvantages I experienced were once again with the food I receive from a restaurant. How do I know where it came from? One strategy I used to overcome this was simple, do not go out to eat. When I do not go out to eat I do not have to worry about where my meat was processed and I save money. My other alternative to when I go out to eat is to do a meatless meal.

I experienced great feelings this week about my goal. It feels good to actually stick to something and be able to share your experience with others. I am now trying to pass the information I am learning about animal products to family and friends so they too can follow in my footsteps. At times I do get discouraged when I am out to eat because I think restaurants should have to state where they get their meat products from. This could even work to their advantage by giving them more customers who appreciate their honesty and ways of buying foods.

I learned this week that buying locally, buying organic, or buying hormone-free foods is a lot easier and cheaper than most people think. Like they say do not listen to everything you hear. Find out for youself! Now when I talk to people I am able to tell them the truth that these foods are reasonably priced and so much better for you!

I plan to stick to this same goal for next week, considering 3 servings of meat is plenty for me. Next week I am thinking about trying maybe steak or chicken because I have yet to do that and I am curious to see if the taste is different. Wish me luck!

"Blogged for the Eco-Chic Lifestyle Change Week 3 hosted by Amy@Amy in the Rain."

Picture Source: I grant anyone the right to use this work for any purpose, without any conditions, unless such conditions are required by law

Share & Voice: SHIP meeting

Northeastern Minnesota Ship Regional Leadership Team Meeting:

On Friday, November 19th I had the opportunity to attend the Minnesota Statewide Health Improvement Plan meeting. It was actually very interesting and fun. I got the chance to listen to current plans being implemented right now, meet some very fun and important people, and was offered a volunteering job with Elissa Hansen, the NE MN SHIP Regional Coordinator. Some of the current programs we discussed were:

• Breastfeeding Intervention
• NE MN SHIP Update
• Worksite Wellness Invention
• Tobacco addiction

After discussing Worksite Wellness it really got me thinking that this is something I am really interested in. Fit City Duluth showed a PowerPoint presentation that had a lot of information on it and how to get involved. It makes me excited that I may have found something else I am really interested in. If you have any questions regarding SHIP or Fit City Duluth the websites are listed above.

*FYI: They also mentioned how we should let people know there is a Health Survey going on right now. According to the handout we received, "Starting in November, over 5,000 individuals in a nine-county area will be asked to respond to a telephone survey". It is very important to answer this call because it will only benefit your health. So tell around to answer this phone call it is NOT a telemarketer! Thanks :)

Image Source: http://www.health.state.mn.us/healthreform/ship/about/index.html