PETA Launches ‘Plan B’ Lifeline for Overweight Women: ‘Plan V’ for ‘Vegan’

PETA Asks Population-Control Group to Promote Vegan Meals to Keep Weight Down and Emergency-Contraception Rates Up

For Immediate Release:
December 2, 2013

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

The emergency contraception known as Plan B is reported to have been found ineffective for women who weigh more than 176 pounds, so PETA has sent a letter asking Population Connection—a population stabilization and contraception advocacy group—to collaborate with us in a new “Plan V” program, which would encourage women to lose weight (and regain access to Plan B as a family-planning tool) by choosing healthy vegan meals. As PETA points out in its letter, vegans are 18 percent thinner than their meat-eating counterparts.

“If extra pounds are thwarting a woman’s ability to use Plan B, PETA’s ‘Plan V’ could be the prescription they need,” says PETA Executive Vice President (and mother) Tracy Reiman. “Going vegan is a great way to lose weight and get healthy—and it could help women regain control over their reproductive lives.”

In addition to reducing their risk of developing heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, vegans drastically reduce their carbon footprint and spare more than 100 animals every year immense suffering on factory farms, in slaughterhouses, and on the decks of fishing boats.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.

PETA’s letter to Population Connection follows.

December 2, 2013

John Seager
President and CEO
Population Connection

Via e-mail: [email protected]

Dear Mr. Seager:

I’m writing on behalf of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to ask you to join with us in our “Plan V” proposal. Recent news reports point to the ineffectiveness of emergency contraception, or “Plan B,” in women who are overweight. As we all know, unplanned pregnancies can become personal and economic disasters and are also ultimately unsustainable from a global perspective. With access to family-planning tools being essential, we’re proposing “Plan V,” a program that will encourage women to adopt a healthy vegan diet in order to lose weight and so take control of their reproductive rights.

As a result of their healthy diet, vegans are, on average, 18 percent thinner than their meat-eating counterparts, and according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, they are also less prone to obesity, heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. A healthy plant-based diet provides all the nutrients that we need to thrive—without the saturated animal fats and cholesterol found in meat.

By choosing a vegan diet to lose weight, each person will also save the lives of more than 100 animals per year, something that gives an additional incentive to many people. For information on the cruelty involved in animal-based agriculture today, please visit Meat.org.

Concern for the environment is another reason to embrace “Plan V”: The Worldwatch Institute estimates that animal agriculture is responsible for fully 51 percent of all human-caused greenhouse-gas emissions. Worldwide, more than 97 percent of soy meal and 60 percent of barley and corn are used to feed farmed animals, yet that is food that could sustain the world’s undernourished human population.

We hope that Population Connection will consider the serious impact that excess bodyweight could have on its goals and incorporate “Plan V” into its action plan. I look forward to hearing from you.

Very truly yours,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President