2010 Policy Agenda

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2010 Policy Agenda
Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health (PRCH) is a doctor-led national advocacy organization. We advance quality reproductive health care through meeting with government officials, taking action online, speaking to the media, testifying in legislatures, and partnering with organizations that have similar missions. In 2010, we will support public policies that achieve the following goals: Inserting the PRCH Physicians’ Voice into Debates on Reproductive Health Care PRCH relies on scientific expertise and doctors’ real-life experiences to influence legislation, regulations, and public opinion. With the country closer to major health care reform than it has been for generations, PRCH physicians in 2010 will advance new initiatives before Congress, federal agencies, and state legislatures to achieve improved access to comprehensive reproductive health care, including contraception and abortion. PRCH physicians will speak out in support of reproductive health care decisions made solely by patients and their doctors. Making Contraception and Abortion Available to Everyone PRCH supports policies that enable women and men of all ages to receive contraceptives and abortion services. Nearly forty years have passed since the Supreme Court recognized the right to abortion, but patients across the country still struggle to obtain sound, affordable, and timely reproductive health care. PRCH physicians will speak out in 2010 to highlight the critical role reproductive health care plays in women’s and families’ overall well-being. At the state and federal levels, PRCH physicians will support efforts to mandate insurance coverage for contraception, to require pharmacies to fill prescriptions for contraception, and to ensure that hospitals provide sexual assault survivors with information about and access to emergency contraception. PRCH physicians will oppose restrictions aimed at pregnant women, their doctors, and abortion services, such as mandated waiting periods, bans on public funding, targeted regulation of abortion providers, and medically inaccurate counseling policies. PRCH physicians will also challenge initiatives without scientific foundation, including attempts to define legal personhood as beginning at conception. Delivering Reproductive Health Care to All Adolescents In 2010, PRCH will advocate for the removal of barriers between adolescents and reproductive health information and services, as well as measures that ensure adolescents’ privacy in making medical decisions. PRCH will support easy and prompt access for adolescents to all contraception, including emergency contraception, and oppose mandated parental consent and notification policies for reproductive health care services, including abortion. PRCH physicians will promote comprehensive sexuality education that is medically accurate, age-appropriate, and complete. PRCH will challenge abstinence-only programs and advance education that gives young people the knowledge and skills to make responsible decisions about sexual behavior.