Dian Harrison's blog

Access Denied: Birth Control for College and Low-Income Women

2008-06-17T12:00:00+00:00

College students and low-income women face dramatic increases in birth control pricing.

College is about survival of the fittest. Every year, students are overwhelmed by many stressors such as: peer pressure, advanced course work, securing financial aid, and balancing a healthy lifestyle. How students cope with such stressors determine whether or not they will sustain and achieve the advanced education and esteemed degrees they set out for, or if their dreams will be deferred in the process of elimination.

Female students in particular are now faced with another stressor: securing access to affordable birth control, a basic health care need that was compromised by an "accidental rewording" in the Deficit Reduction Act (DRA) of 2005.

The DRA, enacted by Congress in 2007, among other regulations, was intended to regulate pharmaceutical companies from abusing Medicaid rebates to benefit themselves and not the public. However, it inadvertently ended a 20-year mutually beneficial relationship between pharmaceutical companies and college health centers as well as other trusted family planning providers when it failed to maintain a provision that allowed these safety-net providers to purchase contraceptives at deeply discounted rates.

As a result, safety-net providers are now forced to increase both brand name and generic birth control prescription costs, consequently eliminating affordable birth control for more than three million uninsured and underinsured college students and low-income women who simply cannot afford the extra out-of-pocket expense. To illustrate, birth control prescriptions that once cost $5 to $10 per month now range from $40 to $50 per month making access unaffordable for those living below the federal poverty line.Photo courtesy ABC News

It is imperative that women-whether insured or uninsured, a student or low-income-have access to affordable birth control options. Not only does birth control empower women to control their reproductive future by preventing unintended pregnancies, its other benefits include easing dysmenorrheal pain and other premenstrual symptoms, treatment of endometriosis (a condition that affects approximately five million American women), acne treatment, regulating the menstrual cycle, and controlling the menstrual flow.

Because of sound public health policies, California women are not greatly affected by the increase in birth control prices, yet campus health centers in California are subjected to the national birth control rate increases, causing a delay to affordable birth control and timely preventive health care.

Certainly California's safety-net providers are not exempt from the increase in birth control prices; however, students and low-income women have continued access to affordable birth control and reproductive health care services through their participation in the Family Planning Access Care and Treatment (PACT) program, a Medicaid waiver program.

Implemented in 1997-1998, FPACT helped to avert an estimated 108,000 unintended pregnancies by offering family planning services to females and males who "are at risk of pregnancy or causing pregnancy." Moreover, the program helped reduce the state's teen pregnancy rates by over 50 percent.

Undoubtedly a successful program, FPACT provides reproductive health care and education to more than 1.5 million Californians who otherwise would not qualify for coverage under other health plans. Yet even with provider support from the public and private sectors, the future of FPACT is unknown as it has been awaiting reauthorization since January 2005. If granted a permanent waiver, California could build on the success of the past decade and continue to provide students and low-income women and men with comprehensive reproductive health care, including affordable birth control.

It's time to take action and urge our members of Congress to restore affordable birth control prices to college health centers and other trusted family planning providers. Birth control is basic health care; therefore, a woman's option to use contraception to prevent an unintended pregnancy should not be based on her socio-economic status. It's long overdue for FPACT to be granted a permanent waiver to ensure Californians have uninterrupted access to reproductive health care services. These are common sense policies that we should all be able to agree on because they work.

What can you do to help? Take action. Ask your Federal Representative to support the Prevention Through Affordable Access Act (H.R. 4054).

Turning Protests Into Pro-Choice Action

2007-01-11T13:55:00+00:00

Dian Harrison is President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate.

The 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade on January 22nd, is a cause for celebration for all who care about women's health and especially for those of us in the reproductive rights movement who work to protect and extend this legacy every day. It also provides a valuable opportunity to promote prevention.

Prevention - of unintended pregnancies, sexually transmitted infections and cervical cancer - is a goal that everyone should be able to support. Not only is prevention good health policy, it also makes good fiscal sense. For example, in California, every dollar spent preventing unintended pregnancy, saves California an additional $5.33 in future medical and social services costs, according to the California Research Bureau.

Unfortunately, there are still many who prefer to use this anniversary to stage an annual conflict here in San Francisco. On January 20th, anti-choice groups from around the state will descend upon our pro-choice city to protest legalized abortion. Without a trace of irony, the so-called "Walk for Life" uses feminist language - their slogan is "Women Deserve Better Than Abortion" - while they work to undermine the very foundation of women's autonomy. Despite their slogan, they don't lift a finger to help women avoid unintended pregnancies, the leading cause of abortion. What if the energy they put into protest could be harnessed to support women's health services instead?

At Planned Parenthood Golden Gate (PPGG) we are trying to do just that. PPGG is celebrating the 34th anniversary of Roe v. Wade with a Pledge-a-Protester fundraising campaign to bring the Human Papilloma Virus (HPV) vaccine to low-income women and girls in the Bay Area. The HPV vaccine has the potential to end cervical cancer, the second most common form of cancer among women worldwide and the cause of death of nearly 4,000 women each year in the U.S.

However, at a cost of around $450 to procure and administer the 3 shot series, the break-through vaccine is well beyond the means of many Bay Area families. 4.7 million Californians live in poverty, and, with 7 million uninsured, California has the highest rate of uninsured individuals in the nation (U.S. Census, 2006.) Even in affluent San Francisco County, 12% of the population lives in poverty, according to the Public Policy Institute of California. Everyone deserves access to this life saving vaccine.

We invite you to join us in celebrating Roe this year by putting prevention first. Help raise awareness in your community of the work that remains to be done in bringing reproductive health care to everyone.

For more information on our Pledge-a-Protester campaign, visit our website.

2007: A New Year for Choice!

2006-12-15T13:00:07+00:00

Dian Harrison is President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate.

We did it! On November 7, Californians defeated a dangerous parental notification initiative for the second year in a row. Proposition 85 suffered an even greater defeat than last year's Proposition 73, proving once again that when voters understand the dangerous consequences of notification laws and the anti-choice motives behind them, they vote "No."

As a member of the Campaign for Real Teen Safety, PPGG was part of an incredible coalition of doctors, nurses, teachers, civil rights, labor and LGBT groups.

California was not alone. Pro-choice voters across the nation came out to protect women's health and rights. Oregon voters defeated a parental notification initiative in their own state, and South Dakotans rejected a truly abominable ban on all abortions. Pro-choice advocates gained seats in both the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate. We are looking forward to advancing prevention-based policies in 2007!

Tables courtesy of Planned Parenthood Federation of America (current as of 12/6/06)

When it Comes to Preventing Teen Pregnancy, Talk’s Not Cheap But Notification Laws Are

2006-10-04T13:23:04+00:00

Dian Harrison is the President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Golden Gate. This is the first of a series of posts about California's Parental Notification Ballot Inititiative.

October is "Let's Talk Month." It's a great opportunity to let the young people in your life know that you are there for them and ready to help, even when they are facing issues that can be tough to talk about, like sexual health.

Research has shown that teens that have good communication with their families are more likely to delay becoming sexually active and are also more likely to be safe if they do become active. According to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, "Teens who are close to their parents and feel supported by them are more likely to abstain from sex, wait until they are older to begin having sex, have fewer sexual partners, and use contraception more consistently."

We counsel the teens who visit our health centers to talk with their parents about the issues they are facing, whether they are considering becoming sexually active, seeking birth control, or terminating an unintended pregnancy. Studies have shown that the vast majority of teens involve a parent when they are facing an unintended pregnancy.

Parental Notification Laws, like California's Prop 85 and Oregon's Measure 43, Just Don't Work

Unfortunately, there are some teens that come from abusive homes where it's just not safe to discuss sensitive issues, like an unintended pregnancy. That's why laws that require parental notification before abortion, like Proposition 85 in California and Measure 43 in Oregon, are a bad idea.

Parents rightfully want to be involved in the lives of their teens, but not all teens come from supportive homes. Teens that don't turn to their parents usually have a very good reason for not doing so, such as fear for their physical safety. Rather than going to an abusive parent, some teens will seek an illegal back-alley abortion, try to self-abort, or even consider suicide.

These laws may look like a good communication tool at first glance, but don't be fooled! Notification laws don't help families communicate and they don't reduce teen pregnancy as proponents claim. All they do is put our most vulnerable teens in danger.

According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, "...mandating parental notification does not achieve the intended benefit of promoting family communication, but it does increase the risk of harm to the adolescent by delaying access to appropriate care."

A recent study by the N.Y. Times found that parental notification and consent laws have not reduced teen pregnancy in the states where they are enacted.

That's why the people who work with teens every day, such as the California Teachers Association, the California Medical Association, the American Academy of Pediatrics, and Planned Parenthood, all oppose Proposition 85.

The groups supporting 85 are all anti-choice groups that are furthering their political agenda at the expense of California's most vulnerable teens. Backers of 85 include Right to Life of Central California, the Traditional Values Coalition and Evangelicals for Social Action. The primary sponsor, Catholic publishing magnate James Holman, was also the main backer of last year's failed Proposition 73.

Family communication has to start at home and it has to start early, before an unintended pregnancy can take place. Combined with comprehensive, medically accurate sexuality education and access to contraception, it can work wonders when it comes to preventing teen pregnancy. In California, we have been able to reduce the teen pregnancy rate by 46% over the past decade without dangerous notification laws.

Help spread the word, good family communication starts with a conversation, not a law. Reject parental notification laws and help keep teens safe!