Pro-Choice Americans Issue State of the Union Challenge to President Bush

Washington, DC – As President Bush prepares to deliver his State of the Union address, Nancy Keenan, president of NARAL Pro-Choice America, challenged him once again to use this opportunity to unite the country by abandoning his divisive attacks on choice and refocusing his efforts instead on commonsense prevention measures that will prevent unintended pregnancy and reduce the need for abortion. 

"Two years ago, NARAL Pro-Choice America issued its first challenge to President Bush urging him to unite the country by abandoning his divisive attacks on safe, legal abortion and devoting his efforts instead to commonsense prevention measures that reduce the need for abortion," Keenan said.  "This State of the Union address comes on the heels of an election where voters, in states as diverse as South Dakota and Oregon, rebuked divisive attacks on a woman's right to choose.  One day after the elections, the president assured Americans he would work with the new Congress to seek common ground.  Now he can make good on his promise by backing commonsense solutions to prevent unintended pregnancies."

NARAL Pro-Choice America has worked with congressional leaders to develop the Prevention First initiative – a series of commonsense legislative proposals that have broad public support.  Among other things, the bills would improve family-planning services, require insurance companies to pay for birth control in the same way they cover other prescription medications, and make sure teens are taught honest, realistic sex education that protects them against disease. 

Note to reporters:

As we mark the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade this month, please note that NARAL Pro-Choice America will release the 16th edition of the nation's premier pro-choice publication, Who Decides? The Status of Women's Reproductive Rights in the United States, at 9 a.m. Friday, January 19 at the National Press Club at 529 14th St. NW, 13th Floor, Washington, DC. Please join us for more information on state and federal choice-related legislation, the 2006 midterm elections and the future of Roe v. Wade.

Contact: Ted Miller 202.973.3032

The Prevention Agenda

From 1995 to 2006, when anti-choice lawmakers had control of Congress, they worked relentlessly to make abortion more difficult and dangerous.  Making matters worse, they did nothing to make abortion less necessary.  NARAL Pro-Choice America has a longstanding policy of supporting all options for women – including their right to prevent unintended pregnancy if that is their choice. 

In keeping with this principle, in January 2005 NARAL Pro-Choice America challenged President Bush to use his second term in office to unite the country by abandoning his divisive attacks on safe, legal abortion and devoting his efforts instead to commonsense prevention measures that reduce the need for abortion.  Pro-choice lawmakers have authored a comprehensive list of bills that would help achieve that goal – yet disappointingly, the president refuses to support any of them and the anti-choice congressional leadership refused to bring any of them up for a vote.

The pro-choice prevention agenda includes the following commonsense measures:

• The Prevention First Act is a bill that clearly bridges the pro-choice/pro-life divide.  Sponsored by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid and Rep. Louise Slaughter, it is a thoughtful package of services to help women and couples prevent unintended pregnancy.  It increases funds for family-planning services, assures contraceptive equity in health-insurance plans, and improves women's access to emergency contraception, among other things.  Moreover, polling shows that Americans prefer prevention-based measures over President Bush's anti-choice agenda by a 61-to-27 percent margin.

• The Responsible Education About Life (REAL) Act, sponsored by Sen. Frank Lautenberg and Rep. Barbara Lee, would establish the first-ever federal sex-education program for young people.  There are three separate federal "abstinence-only" programs that by law must forbid discussion of contraception's benefits in preventing pregnancy – yet there is no similar program for honest sex education that teaches about both abstinence and birth control.  The current federal "abstinence-only" programs are so controversial and prescriptive that some states even refuse to accept funds.  REAL is bipartisan and has more than 100 sponsors in Congress.  There is overwhelming public support for honest sex education: 99 percent of Americans believe it is appropriate for young people to have information about STDs, and 94 percent of Americans think it is appropriate to teach young people about birth control.

• Women across America are encountering rogue pharmacists who refuse to fill their birth-control prescriptions – and in some cases lecture and humiliate them in public.  The Access to Legal Pharmaceuticals Act would ensure that a woman receives her prescription contraception, whether or not an individual pharmacist has an objection.  This legislation is bipartisan and has more than 100 cosponsors – and it has overwhelming public support.  Nearly 80 percent of the general public – and even more than 70 percent of self-identified "pro-life" voters – oppose pharmacies that refuse to fill birth-control prescriptions.

• Shockingly, some health-insurance plans cover prescription drugs but discriminate against prescription contraception.  Consequently, women have to pay out-of-pocket for services that should be covered by insurance.  Some women simply may not be able to afford it.  The Equity in Prescription Insurance Contraceptive Coverage Act would simply ensure that prescription birth-control is covered equally with other prescription drugs.  It's been awaiting congressional action for nine years; it has more than 100 cosponsors and is bipartisan.  Twenty-six states have enacted similar laws, as has Congress for federal employees.

• America has the highest teen-pregnancy rate of any developed Western country.  Sponsored by Sen. Bob Menendez and Rep. Steve Rothman, the Teen Pregnancy Prevention, Responsibility, and Opportunity Act would help tackle this problem by educating teens about their risk of pregnancy, teaching them about the significant responsibilities that come with parenthood, keeping them on track in school, and helping parents discuss tough topics – like sex – with their kids.

• Americans are tired of divisive attacks on a woman's right to choose and they want lawmakers from both sides of the abortion debate to find commonsense solutions.  Rep. Tim Ryan – who opposes legal abortion – teamed up with pro-choice Rep. Rosa DeLauro and other lawmakers to introduce the Reducing the Need for Abortions and Supporting Parents Act.  This new legislation contains a variety of policy initiatives aimed at preventing unintended pregnancies, helping women bear healthy children, and supporting new parents.  The bill expands access to contraception, funds honest sex-education programs, improves health-care access for low-income women and children, and extends adoption tax credits.  This partnership shows that pro-choice and pro-life lawmakers can bridge the ideological divide on the question of legal abortion by working together on effective, realistic strategies that will help women and their families.    

For more than three years, President Bush's political appointees blocked the Food and Drug Administration from allowing women to obtain emergency contraception without a prescription.  Finally, when the public's outrage reached a crescendo, in August 2006 the FDA approved non-prescription sales for emergency contraception, but only for individuals ages 18 and over.  The decision was a big step forward for women's reproductive health and privacy – but in order to realize emergency contraception's full potential to prevent unintended pregnancy, policymakers need to do more.  Specifically, President Bush should support and Congress should take up the following bills, which languished under anti-choice congressional leadership: 

• The Compassionate Assistance for Rape Emergencies Act would ensure that victims of sexual assault are offered emergency contraception in the emergency room.  Each year, approximately 25,000 women in the United States become pregnant as a result of rape.  This is an added tragedy, since when used correctly and consistently, emergency contraception can significantly reduce a woman's chances of becoming pregnant – yet too few women know about the medication.  Sponsored by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton and Rep. Steve Rothman, this legislation is bipartisan and garners widespread public support.  Polls show that nearly 80 percent of American women want their hospitals – religious-affiliated or not – to offer emergency contraception to rape survivors.

• The number of military women who suffer sexual assault is shocking.  Yet emergency contraception is not automatically available for servicewomen at overseas bases, so victims of rape – or servicewomen who simply need to back-up their regular birth-control method – may not easily be able to obtain the medication in time.  Rep. Mike Michaud's legislation, H.R. 2635 (109th Congress), would ensure that military health-care facilities stock EC and make it available for servicewomen and military dependents as part of the regular drug formulary on every base.

• Even though emergency contraception is available now without a prescription, a major hurdle remains to its use: too few women (and even doctors!) know what it is, how it works, and how to use it correctly.  The Emergency Contraception Education Act would fund public-education campaigns, like other major public-health education efforts, to inform women and health-care professionals that this medication is available, and is safe and effective at preventing pregnancy.

Contact:
Ted Miller, 202.973.3032