• by Les Luchter , Yesterday

With Independence Day approaching and the midterm elections just months ahead, Plan B One Step is touting results of a survey showing that 72% of Republican voters -- and 64% of MAGA voters -- want Congress to protect access to birth control, including emergency contraceptives like Plan B.

The national survey of 1,206 registered voters was conducted back in January by Impact Research and Echelon Insights for Center Forward, a policy advocacy nonprofit that pushes bipartisanship.  The group published the results in March, with Plan B marketing director Tara Evans telling Marketing Daily on Friday that the brand “recognized the data as relevant, timely, and important, and made the decision to amplify these findings now to ensure they reach the widest possible audience.”

The campaign started with a press release, but Evans says Plan B is also planning “broadcast and digital media outreach, social platforms, and partnerships with healthcare providers and pharmacists” as it strives to reach not only policymakers, legislators and their staffs, but also consumers with its message that "voters on both sides of the aisle want their elected officials to stand with women on this issue.”

Part of the mission is educational.

“It is critical that everyone understands what Plan B is and, just as importantly, what it is not,” Evans explains. “Plan B is backup birth control, used when a primary form of birth control falls through. It works by temporarily delaying ovulation and does not end a pregnancy. It is not an abortion pill, and that continues to be a critical piece of information that too many people still get wrong. That distinction matters, and we are making sure the right people hear it clearly and directly.”

And here’s some more data from the Center Forward study: Among independents, the number of birth control supporters rises to 70% and among Democrats to 80%, creating what Plan B calls “one of the clearest bipartisan mandates in recent public health polling.”

Plan B has set up a dedicated web site for its effort, dubbed The 2026 Women’s Health Mandate. Over the next two months the company plans to release three more dumps of data, described as follows to Marketing Daily : “a ‘system’ failure finding that only one in four women believe the health care system is meeting their needs; a ‘generational cry’ showing Gen Z and millennial voters are most likely to say the system fails women during their reproductive years; and a ‘rural women’ data set revealing they are six points more likely than voters overall to say they have a hard time finding quality health care.”

Plan B’s public advocacy push comes three months after it became the only product in Foundation Consumer Healthcare’s portfolio, as that parent company in March sold all 10 of its other brands to Prestige Consumer Healthcare in a $1 billion deal. Those brands included Breathe Rightnasal Strips, Anbesol^® anesthetic, Dristan nasal spray and Dimetapp for coughs and colds.

Evans calls the recent divestiture a “strategic shift designed to unlock new partnerships and growth opportunities” within women’s health.

Plan B One Step was launched by Teva Pharmaceuticals as a prescription product in 2009. It went over-the-counter in 2013, so generic versions are now also available. Foundation acquired the brand from Teva in 2017 in a $675 million deal.