Posted on ContraceptionBlog.com by Britt Shankle.
As I promised, here's a short synopsis of how Project Plus came to be, and what we're doing now.
Like I said earlier, we are a group of college students who were all concerned about the Women's Clinic re-opening on our campus after nearly 4 years without a physician who would do the necessary physical exams to prescribe Birth Control. Within the past 4 years, the Health clinic had routinely dispensed BC to all female students who had an active prescription at their discounted price, but they could not provide new students with prescriptions, so their customer base had decreased exponentially each year. In fact, when they started back up, they had so few students still on the plan, that they weren't even keeping the pill stocked at our school, but giving the students discounts if they went across the street to the grocery store pharmacy to buy it.
Within the first few weeks of school starting back up, though, the "Peer Wellness" group had recruited nearly 50 new "Peer Educators" who would be trained to teach the class on birth control and
STD's that is required before a girl can obtain an appointment at the Women's Clinic, even if she does not wish to recieve Birth Control. Appalled, and slightly embarrassed, at our school's reaction, we set to work.
We knew that on a college campus, especially a small, liberal one like ours,
the best way to attract a student’s attention is to be fast and loud. There are
a million ways to be seen and heard on campus, but we picked the one that we
felt would be the most apparent: a postering campaign.
If you've ever been in college, or even to a college campus, you've seen the
students, groggily trekking to class in sweats or pajamas, flip-flops and team
sweat shirts. Sometimes there's breakfast or a coffee cup in one hand, while a
cell phone or iPod packs the other. They barely look up as they hike the well
known path to each of their daily courses. In fact, as a student, I could
pass the same person every day for a semester, and then meet them at a social
come exam time and not even recognize their face! But the one thing that has
always drawn the attention of the morning zombies has been posters. I remember
barely being able to put my shoes on the right feet, but if a bright colored
poster promised information on a new club, a campus event, or a hilarious photo
of one of my classmates doing something equally hilarious (most commonly
followed by the words "Happy Birthday"), you had my attention.
The first poster we put up went out the night before the first "Peer
Wellness education class". It was pink, and donned a horrified looking
1950's era lady holding a pamphlet. The text read like the byline to a B rated
movie: "She Couldn't Believe Her Eyes.... Her Birth Control Was Making Her
Sick!!!" We followed this statement with a
well documented source from Dr. Lloyd J DuPlantis, PD of Pharmacists for Life.
The article, entitled "Nutrient
Depletions Caused by the Pill", was simply a listing of all the different
possible vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients which the pill's chemical
makeup causes the body to slough off instead of retain like it should.
Because of this nutrient depletion of vitamins B and C, calcium and
folic acid as well as others, Dr. DuPlantis logically follows that the pill lowers
one's immune system, making it easier for a girl to contract a cold, the flu,
and even STD's. But more on that later.
I attended the Peer Wellness class, and was not surprised to find that these
"Peer Educators" (who seemed to be very uneducated, especially in the
area of STD's.... I had to correct them surreptitiously on several accounts)
completely dismissed the posters, and actually recommended that students tear
them down (which, since we had had them approved for posting, is actually
against the school's honor code).
It was mainly because of that meeting that I decided that our campaign
needed to continue. My peers were being brainwashed into believing whatever
came out of the pharmaceutical companies mouth, who simply wanted these
unsuspecting young people to invest themselves fully in their product, thereby
securing the companies income well into the CEO's retirement. Not a word was
being said about the possible side effects of these potent drugs! We were
going to have to be the ones to say it.
This immediately made me the most unpopular person on campus that nobody
knew (because no names were associated with the posters in order to prevent
students on my small campus from brushing them off as being from "those
crazy conservative nut job Catholic anti-choicers"). There was at least
one article each week about our campaign in the school newspaper for almost the
entire semester, sometimes more than one! Even the faculty got in on the
action. But our posters kept coming, and kept getting torn down within the
first 24 hours.
We kept hearing word that the opposition was going to do a response poster,
but it wasn't until the 3rd day of final exams that one went up. Even then, we
were prepared. A member of our group had gotten a hold of their poster ahead of
time, and we created a response poster mimicking it that went up not even
half an hour after their poster. We only wished they had gotten on the ball sooner so
that more students could have seen their effort next to ours!
I've received requests from several schools to copy our project at their schools, which I've been happy to help them out with. We named the campaign Project Plus, because we want to add goodness and truth, as well as health and fulfillment to our generation... we don't want to end up just breaking even. A friend of mine helped me put together a website, and so far I believe 4 schools have signed on. My own alma mater is continuing this semester as well.
So there you have it. Project Plus in a nutshell.
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