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Prevention First legislation
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Since the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, the Indiana state legislature has dealt with over 150 bills that would restrict access to abortion (including almost 20 bills and amendments in 2008 alone!) and less than a dozen that would help people prevent unintended pregnancy.
While the idea of increasing access to birth control and honest information about sex has been introduced in the US Senate (read about the federal Prevention First package), Indiana's legislators have only scratched the surface. One of our first steps of action was holding the Prevention Now rally in 2007—which, along with lots of work from our wonderful grassroots supporters, gathered enough attention for our legislative package to find authors and sponsors in the Indiana Senate during the 2008 General Assembly.
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Download the flyer!
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Although the bills were not heard before committees in the Senate this year, this was the first step in working to have these laws implemented in the Hoosier state—which is why we will continue to advocate for the Prevention First legislation (see below) and not give up! There are numerous things we can do during the interim, especially because this year is a very important election year.
What can YOU do?
Birth Control Protection—Senate Bill 222, authored by Sen. Vi Simpson
As the debate over abortion grows more fierce and legislative attempts to define in law that "life begins at conception" become more prevalent, common contraceptives are at risk of being classified—and restricted—as abortifacients. Some 98% of women of reproductive age use contraceptives at some point in their lives. Access to contraceptives is critical to the prevention of unintended pregnancy and the reduction of abortion. Indiana ranks 49th in the country among states' efforts to prevent unintended pregnancy. We can elevate Indiana's rating and the health of Indiana's families by protecting and promoting access to contraception. We must do this in our state's policies and in practice. We propose the following:
- The state of Indiana recognizes that Hoosiers have a right to obtain and use safe and effective methods of birth control without governmental interference, and further recognizes that contraceptives do not constitute abortion; therefore it shall not be the policy of the state or its agents to regulate or restrict access to birth control beyond controls necessary to ensure public health and safety.
Patient Protection—Senate Bill 277, authored by Sen. Sue Errington
All across the country and right here in Indiana women are reporting problems in accessing contraception at their local pharmacies. We've had numerous reports from women who have been denied their valid, legal prescriptions for birth control. In some cases the pharmacist confiscates the prescription. While we respect the views of others, including those of individual pharmacists who are morally opposed to birth control, access to contraception is critical for women who desire to plan their pregnancies. We propose that:
- Pharmacies (as an institution, not individual pharmacists) must ensure that a patient's prescription be filled, or find and refer the patient to another pharmacy which will fill the prescription. If individual pharmacists oppose contraception or other drugs for non-medical reasons, they must report this to their employer in writing upon passage of the bill, and the pharmacy must make arrangements for its patients' prescriptions to be filled in a timely manner, either by ensuring that another pharmacist on staff can fill the prescription or referring the patient to another pharmacy which will fill the prescription. The bill will prohibit pharmacies and individual pharmacists from confiscating lawful prescriptions.
Parents' Right to Know—Senate Bill 327, authored by Sen. Jean Breaux
The Get Real, Indiana! coalition recently sponsored a survey that found that Indiana's public middle and high schools are leaving crucial topics like contraception, STDs, and sexual assault out of the conversation in their sex ed programs. In fact, the survey revealed that less than half of survey respondents were providing state-mandated HIV / AIDS prevention information. Education is the key to equipping young people with the ability to delay sexual intercourse or use contraception for disease and pregnancy prevention, if and when they become sexually active. Comprehensive sex education which incorporates the full spectrum of sexual health topics is preferred. However, the best first step is to ensure that parents are informed about what their teens are and are not learning at school. This can be achieved by encouraging a dialogue between schools, parents, and students. We propose the following:
- All schools inform parents of students in abstinence-only programs exactly what those students are NOT being taught.
Medically Accurate Requirement—Senate Bill 311, authored by Sen. Karen Tallian
Indiana spent over $2 million (federal dollars) on abstinence-only programs in 2005. Abstinence-only programs are known to dispense false, biased, and discriminatory information. While there is great value in teaching young people how to delay intercourse, it is irresponsible to provide false or misleading information to Hoosiers. It is in the best interest of all Hoosiers to ensure that only medically accurate and factual information is provided by the state, whether it be in schools, after school programs or through organizations offering programs on behalf of the state. We propose the following:
- Any recipient of state funding that provides information or offers programs regarding sex, family planning, pregnancy counseling, or sexually transmitted diseases shall provide medically accurate, factual information that is age-appropriate and that includes information on both abstinence and contraception for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, including HIV / AIDS. "Medically accurate, factual information" means that all medical, psychiatric, psychological, empirical, and statistical statements provided are verified by scientific, peer-reviewed research and recognized as accurate and objective by professional organizations with expertise in the relevant field, such as the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists.
It's actually very simple math: when you lower the rate of unintended pregnancy, you lower the rate of abortion. The Prevention First ideas we've outlined above are reasonable, commonsense policies that could actually help Hoosiers prevent unintended pregnancies.
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