Unintended Pregnancy Reduction Act

S 1075 & HR 2523

Summary:  The Unintended Pregnancy Reduction Act would require states to equalize Medicaid benefits by extending coverage for family planning services to women who would be entitled to pregnancy-related care if they became pregnant.  If enacted, it would result in significant savings to both states and the federal government. The measure would also clarify that family planning services are mandatory benefits under Medicaid, something that was called into question by the Deficit Reduction Act.

What You Should Know:  Rates of unintended pregnancy in the United States increased by nearly 30 percent among low-income women between 1994 and 2002.  As a result, a low-income woman today is four times as likely to have an unintended pregnancy and abortion as her higher income counterpart. These at-risk women would greatly benefit from publicly funded contraceptive services. Overall, such services have been shown to prevent 1,300,000 unintended pregnancies each year.

When used, contraception reduces a women's probability of having an abortion by 85 percent. However, contraception use has declined between 1994 and 2002, from 92 percent to 86 percent. Medicaid funding would drastically improve the availability of appropriate contraception through cost-effective family planning services. Every public dollar spent on family planning saves $3 in the cost of pregnancy-related care alone.

Primary Sponsors: Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Rep. Nita Lowey (D-NY)

Introduction date: 3/29/2007 (Senate) and 5/20/07 (House)

Last Major Action:

Senate: 3/29/2007 Referred to the Committee on Finance.

House:  5/24/2007 Referred to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce.

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