W. Va. Group Launches Contest That Aims To Educate People About EC

Main Category: Women's Health / Gynecology
Also Included In: Sexual Health / STDs
Article Date: 02 Jun 2008 - 6:00 PDT

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The West Virginia not-for-profit group WV Free recently launched a contest that aims to educate young people in the state about emergency contraceptives, the Charleston Daily Mail reports.

The group is running ads this week and next week in several newspapers in the state -- including publications in Charleston, West Virginia University's Daily Athenaeum and the Welch Daily News in McDowell County -- that ask people to design and submit a new ad promoting EC. The contest ad reads, "Forgot to take your pills? Condom broke? Forced to have sex? EC is the answer." Lida Shepherd, organizer for WV Free, said the group decided to run its ad in the Welch Daily News because McDowell County has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the state.

Shepherd said that the winning ad will run in local newspapers and that the winner will receive $250. The "contest is geared toward young people" and is "kind of a fun way to educate about EC -- something I think a lot of young people don't know about," Shepherd said, adding that the group has not "had any objection" concerning the contest and does not think it will. She said WV Free is "hoping the contest will dispel any myth [about EC]. The most common one is that it is the abortion pill." EC is a "powerful resource for young women who need to take control of their reproductive lives," Shepherd said. WV Free will take submissions for the contest until Aug. 1 (Caswell, Charleston Daily Mail, 5/28).

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