Women's rights veteran continues pro-choice fight, takes part in recent lobbying day in Columbus

Pro-choice activist Lois Whealey's life hangs around her neck and decorates her bright red jacket.

The charms laced around her silver chain include emblems from her three alma maters "“ Stanford, University of Michigan and Ohio University "“ and for each of her three children and three grandchildren.

Below the crowded charm necklace are scattered Whealey's buttons. One button reads "œPro Child, Pro Family, Pro Choice," from her Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) group. Whealey is also active in the American Association of University Women, the League of Women Voters and the Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Ohio.

"œIt has always been important in my family to have strong women," Whealey said. "œThat's why I have always felt so strongly that a woman's political, social and economic rights need protecting."

Voicing her opinion is why Whealey loves to wear her buttons and her t-shirts, she said. Although Whealey does not need fashion flair to talk about what she says is an essential right to women, the right to choice, an opportunity to gain a new shirt and button does leave a smile.

Whealey grabbed her newest button declaring her love for pro-choice boys at Wednesday's fourth annual Prevention First Act Lobby Day in Columbus, an event where a collaboration of Ohio men and women met with their respective state legislatures to gather support for the proposed legislation. (Web Editor's note: Click on the link above to see a video interview.)

The Prevention First Act breaks down into five sections "“ assistance for sexual-assault victims, increasing education about emergency contraception, guaranteeing access to over-the-counter contraception medication, honest and accurate sex education in high schools, and contraceptive equity.

Tara Harwood, Development Coordinator at Planned Parenthood of Southeast Ohio, and Whealey represented the Athens district by meeting with state Rep. Debbie Phillips, D-Athens. The duo was scheduled to meet with Sen. Jimmy Stewart, R-Athens, but the meeting fell through because of scheduling confusion.

"(Phillips) was very receptive," Harwood said. "We shared our stories, and (Phillips) told some of her own."

Harwood and Whealey did not have the time to prepare like most of the lobbyers because their meeting was scheduled before lunch. But the setback did not derail Whealey from expressing her main concern.

"One of the things that I find very troubling is that men are permitted to have insurance coverage for erectile dysfunction," Whealey said. "Women very often do not get coverage for contraception. There's a double standard when men get aids for conception, but women can't get aid for contraception."

Health-insurance companies provided coverage for Viagra, a pill that treats impotence, within the first year it hit the market. But Ohio's health insurers are not required to cover FDA-approved contraceptive drugs and devices.

"My patients range from 12 years old to 48," said Dr. Rhonda Medina, an OBGYN in Lima, Ohio. "Yesterday I saw a 15-year-old on her second pregnancy. When she delivered last year, I wanted to put her on an oral contraceptive pill.

"It wasn't my first choice because I don't like to give teenagers something they have to think about every day," she added. "But that's the only thing her mother's insurance plan would cover."

Pro-choice lobbyists from the more conservative Delaware County decided to approach their legislator from a financial perspective. For every $1 spent on a family-planning program, $4.70 is saved in averted Medicaid birth costs according to a 2008 article in the Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved.

Other lobbying groups took different approaches. The RCRC presented the lobbyists with tips for addressing religion and issues of faith.

"We will not change the ethical framework that these men and women operate in, nor should that be our purpose," said the Rev. Richard Venus, a member of the Ohio RCRC board of directors. "We should be clear where our ethics come from..."

Several mainstream religions including Roman Catholicism have strongly advocated against teaching anything other than abstinence in sex-education classes. The Prevention First Act requires comprehensive sex education classes to provide age-appropriate and medically accurate information about both abstinence and contraception.

"I was given all the information to get a good score on the SAT," said fourth-year Ohio State student and Olmstead Falls High School graduate John Petrus. "I was not given enough information on how to keep safe, and what the risks and dangers out there."

Petrus said he contracted HIV during his freshman year at Ohio State because he was not properly educated on sexual safety as a gay student.

Another section of the Prevention First Act seeks to protect those seeking contraceptives.

"I have a cousin who is a pharmacist," Dr. Medina said. "Two years ago I was sitting at a family gathering, and I hear my cousin saying 'Why should I dispense emergency contraception; I don't believe in contraception.' I thought that when I write a prescription, it gets filled."

Medina's cousin is not the lone pharmacist to deny contraceptives, according to a 2005 article in Science magazine. The article "Pharmacists Refusals: A Threat to Women's Health" cites some instances where pharmacists have lectured women on their decision to use birth-control or emergency contraceptive, also known as the morning after pill.

The FDA permits the sale of emergency contraceptive without a prescription to women 17 or older (the age limit was 18 prior to April 23, 2009).

For more information about the Prevention First Act or to sign the petition, visit the Ohio Planned Parenthood Web site at ppao.org.