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Thank your federal representatives for supporting the Putting Prevention First Act of 2004!
The "Putting Prevention First Act of 2004" is an omnibus family planning initiative that will expand access to preventive health care services and education programs that help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections, and the need for abortion.
Dear [ Decision Maker ] , Thank you for your support of S.2336/H.R.4192, the "Putting Prevention First Act of 2004". This is an important comprehensive family planning initiative with the overall goal of improving women's reproductive health and reducing the number of abortions. We support all of your efforts to improve access to family planning and protect reproductive freedoms. In particular, the Putting Prevention First Act is intended to reduce the need of abortions, unintended pregnancy, and sexually transmitted infections by expanding access to preventative health care services and education programs. Again, thank you for your support.
Sincerely, |
Campaign Launched: |
| Background Information |
The Putting Prevention First Act of 2004 includes provisions that:
- Increase funding for family planning services;
- Allow states to expand Medicaid family planning services;
- Require insurance companies to cover the cost of prescription contraceptives;
- Provide funding for public education initiatives on emergency contraception;
- Require hospitals to provide emergency contraception on request to survivors of sexual assault;
- Provide funding for comprehensive sex education; and
- Establish grants to fund teen pregnancy prevention programs.
Access to contraception and education would improve the lives of women and children. Women with unintended pregnancies are less likely to obtain timely or adequate prenatal care. Contraceptive use also saves scarce public health dollars - every dollar spent on providing family planning services saves an estimated three dollars in expenditures for pregnancy-related and newborn care for Medicaid alone.
Each year, six million American women become pregnant, and half of those pregnancies, approximately three million, are unintended. Half of those unintended pregnancies end in abortion. Thirty-four percent of teenage girls become pregnant at least once before turning 20, and nearly half of new cases of sexually transmitted infections (18.9 million new cases in the United States in 2000) are among people ages 15-24, even though that age bracket makes up only a quarter of the sexually active population.