The Prevention First Campaign works to promote a comprehensive approach to reduce unintended pregnancies and prevent sexually transmitted infections in North Carolina. To read our brochure about Prevention First click here.
NARAL Pro-Choice North Carolina advocates on Prevention First with coalition partners who are concerned with the health of young people, women, and families.
Priorities of the Prevention First Campaign include:
· Support medically and factually accurate, age-appropriate sex education in North Carolina schools. North Carolina has the ninth highest teen pregnancy rate for 15-19-year-olds in the US and the nation’s highest birth rate among Hispanic teens. Seventy-four percent of North Carolinian high school seniors reported having had sexual intercourse at least once. Teachers, parents, and students all agree – sex education should include both abstinence and pregnancy prevention. A study conducted by the N.C. Dept. of Public Instruction in October 2003 found that the vast majority of N.C. parents (90.5%) thought sexuality education should be taught in public schools. Advocates and policymakers should ensure that young people become informed and capable of making responsible decisions about sexual behavior through medically and factually accurate education programs.
· Provide funding to support effective HIV/STI prevention programs in the communities that need them the most. As of December 31, 2005, an estimated 29,500 people were living with HIV or AIDS in N.C., including people who may be unaware of their infection. As our community faces the HIV/AIDS crisis, the state must invest in effective programs that encourage risk reduction and prevent the transmission of this fatal disease. Also, each year in North Carolina, 416,200 new STI cases will be diagnosed, resulting in an estimated $228.4 million in direct medical costs. Funding prevention, counseling and risk reduction is far less expensive than funding treatments for those who contract STIs. Prevention saves lives and saves the state money in the long term.
· Increase funding for family planning and expand the number of women eligible for publicly funded family planning services. Each year, family planning clinics in NC serve almost 200,000 women, including over 50,000 teenagers. In addition, 45,300 unintended pregnancies are averted each year in North Carolina by publicly funded family planning clinics. In North Carolina in 2001, the federal and state governments together spent $27,234,000 on contraceptive services and supplies. Since every public dollar spent on family planning services saves the state and federal governments three dollars in Medicaid costs for prenatal and newborn care, that spending saved the state nearly $82 million.
· Proactively define contraception and state that contraception is not abortion and should not be treated as such in the law. Contraception is basic health care used by more than 98% of women at some point in their lives. Birth control protection is a proactive method of defining contraception and clearly states that contraception is not abortion and must not be treated as such in the law. Birth control protection would define pregnancy according to the medically accurate definition — as beginning at implantation. Birth control protection is intended to protect the right to contraception as well as make people aware that our right to contraception is at risk.
· Ensure that sexual assault victims have access to EC in hospital emergency rooms. Each year, approximately 25,000 women in the United States become pregnant as a result of rape. We could eliminate a significant number of these pregnancies if we were to provide sexual assault survivors with timely access to emergency contraception. Sexual assault survivors deserve comprehensive and compassionate emergency room care, which should include access to EC. Unfortunately, many emergency rooms fail to offer sexual assault survivors a chance to avoid the additional trauma of unwanted pregnancy. A 2004-2005 study of North Carolina hospitals found that one out of four hospitals do not offer EC as a standard of care to survivors of sexual assault.
· Expand insurance coverage to include all forms of birth control including emergency contraception. Insurance coverage of contraceptive medications and devices is required by North Carolina law if the policy covers other prescription drugs; however, this law includes a refusal clause for emergency contraception. Women’s increased access to and use of EC could significantly reduce the number of unintended pregnancies. Research has shown that women may use contraception inconsistently or not at all due to cost concerns. This is especially a concern in the case of emergency contraception which is more effective the earlier it is taken. Therefore, we should ensure that all women have private insurance or financial assistance for emergency contraception.
· Guarantee that women have access to their prescriptions and FDA-approved over-the-counter medications in-store without discrimination or delay. Over the past several years, there have been a number of reported incidents of North Carolina pharmacists refusing to fill women’s legally prescribed birth control prescriptions for ideological reasons, without regard for their clients’ health. Making matters worse, some healthcare providers even go so far as to lecture women, humiliate them in public, or refuse to hand back the prescription after they refuse to fill it. Timely access to birth control and emergency contraception prevents unintended pregnancies. Instead of allowing individual pharmacists to prevent women from obtaining this important medication, pharmacies should be working to improve women’s access to birth control and emergency contraception.
