Planned Parenthood Affiliates of Michigan

The Prevention First campaign symbolizes our commitment to support healthy families through commonsense prevention measures. Improving access to preventive health care and supporting healthy families should be a shared statewide goal. If we are committed to reducing the number of unintended pregnancies in Michigan, we must get to the root of the problem through prevention. We must ensure reliable sexual and reproductive health education and information; increase access to family planning services; and help plan parenthood, healthy pregnancies, and healthy families.

Good health care policy is good politics:

89% of adults favor more access to family planning options.
81% agreed that those options should not be limited by income.1
85% of Americans support comprehensive sex education.2

The Prevention First campaign is a family planning initiative that expands access to preventive health care services and education programs to help reduce unintended pregnancy, prevent the spread of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and support healthy families by improving women’s health—all while saving scarce public health dollars.

The Prevention First campaign strives to:

Increase access to family planning services by increasing funds to Title X clinics that help women plan healthy pregnancies, prevent unintended pregnancies, lower rates of sexually transmitted infections (including HIV/AIDS), and detect breast and cervical cancer at its earliest stages.
Ensure access to health care for low-income families through Plan First!, Michigan’s family planning program that expands Medicaid coverage for family planning. This measure demonstrates both the health and fiscal benefits of helping low-income women avoid unintended pregnancies and have full access to reproductive health and contraceptive services, as well as plan healthy pregnancies.
Ensure equity in prescription insurance and contraceptive coverage by requiring private health plans to offer the same level of coverage for contraception as they do for other prescription drugs and services.
Reduce the risk of unintended pregnancy by improving awareness about emergency contraception (EC). EC is an essential component of comprehensive health care that should be easily accessible to all women, including those who have experienced contraceptive failure, those who have had unprotected intercourse, and those who have been sexually assaulted.
Protect teens through comprehensive, medically accurate, abstinence-plus sex education. Teens need accurate, complete information to help them both postpone sexual activity and protect themselves if they become sexually active. Only medically accurate sex education, including abstinence and birth control, prepares people to make responsible decisions. Michigan schools must equip our young people with the necessary tools and knowledge to become responsible healthy adults.

Bills currently before the Michigan Legislature:

Providing access to affordable birth control
House Bills 4295 (Bieda) and 4296 (K. Law) and Senate Bills 41 (Scott) and 42 (Jacobs) would expand insurance coverage to include contraceptives. House Bills 4295 and 4296 are currently in the House Health Policy Committee. Senate Bills 41 and 42 are currently in the Senate Health Policy Committee.

Protecting our teens against sexually transmitted infections
House Bills 4164 (Clack) and 4104 (Meadows) and Senate Bills 132 (Cherry) and 133 (Stamas) would require the parent or guardian of a sixth grade student to either give school officials a certificate of immunization including the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine or a statement of exemption. House Bills 4164 and 4104 are currently in the House Health Policy Committee. Senate Bills 132 and 133 are currently in the Senate Health Policy Committee.

House Bill 5171 (Meadows) and 5322 (Clack) and Senate Bills 415 (Cherry) and 416 (Stamas) would amend the Revised School Code to require a school board to include information about HPV and the HPV vaccine if the board provides information on other health issues to the parents of students in at least sixth, ninth, and twelfth grades. House Bill 5171 was passed out of the House Health Policy Committee and is now before the House. House Bill 5322 and Senate Bill 415 were signed into law by the Governor. Senate Bill 416 was passed by the Senate and is currently before the House.

Ensuring timely access to emergency contraception (EC)
House Bill 6048 (Warren) and Senate Bill 1355 (Jacobs) would require all health facilities or agencies that provide emergency or urgent care to promptly offer emergency contraception to survivors of sexual assault. House Bill 6048 was passed by the House and is currently before the Senate Health Policy Committee. Senate Bill 1355 is currently in the Senate Health Policy Committee.

House Bill 6049 (Wheeler Smith) and Senate Bill 1357 (Cherry) would create a duty for Michigan pharmacists to dispense lawfully prescribed, FDA-approved drugs and devices. House Bill 6049 Substitute H-1 was passed out of the House Judiciary Committee and is currently before the House. Senate Bill 1357 is currently in the Senate Health Policy Committee.

House Bill 6050 (Donigan) and Senate Bill 1356 (Brater) would require that the Department of Community Health to develop and disseminate information about emergency contraception. This information would be required to include, at a minimum, a description of emergency contraceptives, and an explanation of the use, safety, efficacy, and availability of emergency contraceptives. House Bill 6050 was passed out of the House Judiciary Committee and is currently before the House. Senate Bill 1356 is currently in the Senate Health Policy Committee.

Promoting Healthy Mothers and Healthy Families
House Bills 6051 (Bieda) and 6052 (Bieda) would expand insurance coverage to include annual pap test screening. House Bills 6051 and 6052 are currently in the House Insurance Committee.

At the same time, the sponsors of this package of bills are urging the Michigan Legislature to use these budget negotiations as an opportunity to increase family planning funding, which has been continually cut due to Michigan’s financial crisis. Such investment in prevention not only improves women’s health and reduces unintended pregnancies, but also saves the state millions of dollars.

1 Wall Street Journal Online/Harris Interactive health care poll published 06/20/06
2 Kaiser Family Foundation, National Public Radio, and Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government poll 2004