The manager of the Ames Planned Parenthood said Ames is a high user of the emergency contraceptive pill.

Krista Noah, manager of Planned Parenthood of Ames, said there has been a high demand for the pill in the Ames community over the past few years. “There really is a lot of people who do take advantage of it.”

She said among Planned Parenthood’s 16 agencies throughout Iowa, the Ames center has one of the highest demand rates for the pill. “Ames is one of the largest users of the ECP,” she said.

Noah thought perhaps one reason behind the higher demand for the pill in Ames may be as a result of students who have utilized the pill in the past and alerted others to its use. The Federal Drug Administration recently gave its final approval for the emergency contraceptive pill, more commonly known as the “morning after pill,” but this recent medical approval won’t be felt too greatly in Ames as the pill has been offered by many health care providers, including the Ames Planned Parenthood Center, since 1989.

Noah said the pill had been “well-studied” and health care officials “knew enough about it” to feel they could administer it safely.

When taken, the ECP stops a pregnancy from implanting in the woman’s uterus and thus preventing pregnancy.

The pill may be taken up to 72 hours after unprotected sex and is commonly administered to women who have been raped or fear recent unprotected sex may result in a pregnancy, Noah said.

However popular the pill may have been with health care providers in the past, Noah said it simply “didn’t exist in the FDA’s eyes.”

Noah said she hopes the recent FDA approval of the ECP would, “bring more light and attention to it and women will realize it’s available.”