Young people need and deserve complete, accurate, culturally sensitive and age-appropriate information about their reproductive health, including abstinence, pregnancy prevention, sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS prevention. Unfortunately, conservative groups and politicians have forced failed abstinence-until marriage programs on public schools over the last two decades. Nearly half of all high school students have sex, and more than 800,000 young women become pregnant each year. That’s why parents, teacher and students all agree that sex education is an essential part of young people’s lives.

 

Parents, advocates and policymakers agree that young people should involve their parents in their decision-making process about sex, contraception and prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. Unfortunately, the reality is that many young people are reluctant to approach their parents about such sensitive subjects. Mandatory parental involvement laws have the opposite effect: young people are more likely to engage in risky and unsafe sex, causing increased rates of unintended pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases among young people. To ensure that young people seek the reproductive health services that they need and are protected if they decide to have sex, we encourage parental involvement, as well as a guarantee that young people have access to confidential health services.

 

Young women have the right to protect themselves from unintended pregnancies, and should have access to contraceptive services, education and health care that can help them make responsible personal decisions. The United States suffers from the highest rate of teen pregnancy in the industrialized world, which has serious consequences for young women and their children, as well as communities as a whole. However, with adequate funding and implementation, teen pregnancy prevention and comprehensive sex education programs can reduce teen pregnancy significantly.

 

The average American woman will spend five years of her life pregnant or trying to get pregnant, and nearly three decades trying to avoid pregnancy. Laws that guarantee insurance coverage for contraception have dramatically improved women’s access to the full range of prescription contraceptives. Research has shown that women may use contraception inconsistently or not at all due to cost concerns. Therefore, we should ensure that all women have private insurance for or Medicaid coverage of contraception.

 

Family planning clinics offer an array of essential reproductive health services to women. Publicly funded family planning services and supplies help prevent unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion and should be funded at levels that provide services to all eligible women. Without publicly funded services, there would be 40% more abortions ever year. In order to fully address the need for publicly funded family planning services and to help reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and the need for abortion, policymakers should give more financial support to family planning clinics.

 

Over the past several years, there have been a number of reported incidents of pharmacists refusing to fill women’s legally prescribed birth control prescriptions for ideological reasons, without regard to their clients’ health. Timely access to birth control and emergency contraception prevents unintended pregnancies and therefore reduces the need for abortion. Instead of allowing individual pharmacists to prevent women from obtaining this important medication, pharmacists should be working to improve women’s access to birth control and contraception. Legislative and executive actions will help ensure that an individual’s personal beliefs do not impede women’s access to legal prescriptions, including prescriptions for birth control pills and emergency contraception.

 

If a woman’s primary contraceptive method fails or she has unprotected sex, including in sexual assault cases, emergency contraception (EC), also known as the morning-after pill, can be an effective method of preventing an unintended pregnancy. EC is safe for women, highly effective in preventing unintended pregnancies and does not lead to riskier sexual behavior. Recently made over the counter, access to EC is still hampered by stringent identity requirements, making it impossible for women under 18 or undocumented women to get the pill. By removing these barriers to access, EC can be even more effective in reducing unintended pregnancies.

 

In addition to these barriers to access, one third of women surveyed have not heard of EC and do not know that it can prevent pregnancy after sex. Public education campaigns on EC have been highly effective. Given the effectiveness of EC, women and the general public have the right to know more about EC , its uses and its ability to prevent unintended pregnancy and reduce the need for abortion.