As the Relays season commences, spring semester soon draws to a close. I would like to draw attention to an option for students and also take this sweet time to clarify something we are hopefully all already aware of, and if you are not, you will be soon. 

Emergency contraception and abortion medication are not the same thing. 

You heard it from the expert’s mouth here, folks. Contrary to popular belief and disinformation, the two partner abortion drugs, mifepristone and misoprostol, are used to induce a miscarriage and effectively end a pregnancy. Plan B and other emergency contraception brands like Julie, commonly referred to as “the morning-after pill,” are used to block ovulation so a potential pregnancy does not occur. 

Emergency contraception prevents pregnancy. An abortion ends a pregnancy.  

The line drawn between these two drugs has continued to be unclear, and even popular shows on television have added to the confusion. 

In a popular Black Mirror episode, when a mother finds out that her daughter is pregnant, she slips an emergency contraception pill into her daughter’s smoothie, unbeknownst to the daughter, which causes her pregnancy to end. This episode was heavily criticized when it originally aired because it got the most basic difference between these two medications wrong. 

Emergency contraception does not cause a miscarriage and is not a part of the two-part abortion series. And even if a person were to take a Plan B after they had already become pregnant, nothing would affect the gestation of said pregnancy! The pregnancy could not be made unviable in any way. That person would then have to seek an abortion if they decided to end their pregnancy. 

So, when Students for Reproductive Justice, a registered organization on Drake’s campus, says we have emergency contraception available for free to students, we are not passing out mifepristone and misoprostol. It means we have access to Plan B and Julie. 

Emergency contraception brands can run a hefty fee for any poor, struggling college student, which is most college students. It can run up to $50, and while taking any brand of emergency contraception regularly is not hazardous to one’s health as is commonly stipulated as a scare tactic so people are weary of using the drug, it is expensive, and it is much more cost-efficient to persevere with some other method of hormonal or non-hormonal birth control. 

The need for Plan B is a crucial one, one that is essential for every sexually active college student — those crazy sluts! (For social purposes, that was a joke.)

While we’ve got condoms sitting in every dispenser in most bathrooms around campus, students need – you guessed it! — an emergency option.     

And what better way to receive a Plan B pill than for free from a trusted and friendly source, packaged discreetly, so you don’t need to spend all your funds for the week in the back aisle of a Walgreens?

Ladies and gentlemen, people of all genders and wonders, even if you are not having sexual intercourse that could result in pregnancy, or you yourself do not have the ability to become pregnant, please consider having a Plan B in your living quarters, in your backpack, in your pocket or tucked behind your ear. You never know if someone you love, or even someone you dislike, is in a precarious position and is scared because of something that happened the night before. So keep it on hand for them, and be nice about it. Don’t poke fun.

You can receive a Plan B from Students for Reproductive Justice by messaging our Instagram account, and we will work with you to get the Plan B to your hands.  

And everyone and anyone: If you ever find yourself staring at a plus sign, just know that Students for Reproductive Justice is here to help and point you in the right direction if ever and whenever you decide to end your pregnancy. Whatever the Iowa Supreme Court’s decision is on the abortion ban that was blocked last year, just know that there are many other options out there.  

And last but not least, tell your boyfriends to wear a damn condom.

Caroline Siebels-Lindquist is the president of Drake’s Students for Reproductive Justice.