Abortion

1. What could be harmful about imposing a 24-hour waiting period before a health care provider performs an abortion?
   
2. What could be harmful about requiring parental consent before a minor can obtain an abortion?
   
3. What could be harmful about informed consent/mandated counseling laws?
   
4. Why not outlaw 'late-term/partial birth' abortions?
   
5. Is abortion dangerous to women? Hasn't abortion been linked to breast cancer and mental illness?
   
6. Why should pro-choice individuals advocate for abortion rights? Isn't the right to abortion protected by Roe v. Wade?
   
7. How can we reduce the abortion rate in the US?
   
8. What is the global gag rule?
   

Contraception

1. Doesn't providing contraception to teens encourage them to be sexually active?
   
2. Do regulations about abortion, such as the global gag rule, apply to emergency contraception?
   
3. Are emergency contraception pills the same as abortion pills?
   
4. Why should the government spend money on family planning services?
   
5. What could be harmful about restricting access to contraception for minors through parental consent clauses?
6. Why should there be a federal law that requires companies to provide health insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives?
   

Sex Education

1. What's wrong with abstinence-only sex education programs?
2. Does the general public support sex education in schools?
3. Shouldn't parents be responsible for teaching their children about sex education and sexuality?
   

Abortion

1. What could be harmful about imposing a 24-hour waiting period before a health care provider performs an abortion?
   This is one idea that sounds reasonable in theory, but not in practice. For a working woman or a woman from a rural area, a waiting period may double the time and salary she must lose because she is away from work, as well as the expense for travel and child care. Many women must travel long distances, some over 50 to 100 miles, to get to an abortion provider; a 24-hour delay increases the cost of the abortion and may increase the risk of complications. The fact is, a woman give much thought to what to do about her pregnancy before making an appointment for an abortion.
2. What could be harmful about requiring parental consent before a minor can obtain an abortion?
   Many health care providers agree that we should work to increase and strengthen family involvement, and surveys show that the vast majority of teenagers who seek abortions do talk to their families. But not all teenagers can count on the support of their families in dealing with personal problems, and may not even feel safe in talking openly about those problems. Some health care providers will attest that parental consent laws expose an abused woman to even more abuse. None of the major medical organizations support mandatory parental consent.
3. What could be harmful about informed consent/mandated counseling laws?
   Health care providers agree that women considering any medical procedure should have access to complete and accurate information. The concern is whether laws governing informed consent on abortion will present that information accurately and impartially. As with other personal health care decisions, health professionals should be responsible for educating and counseling their patients about abortion.
4. Why not outlaw 'late-term/partial birth' abortions?
   The US Supreme Court has found these bans unconstitutional. Also, it is important to note that there is no medical procedure that may be accurately termed a "partial birth abortion"; anti-abortion groups that continually distort the facts about abortion created this term for its emotional impact. The reality is that late-term abortions are rare. In fact, 88% of all abortions in the US take place in the first 12 weeks (1). Third trimester abortions are performed only because of severe health risks posed for the fetus or pregnant woman.
5. Is abortion dangerous to women? Hasn't abortion been linked to breast cancer and mental illness?
   There are no objective scientific studies that have shown an increase in the rate of breast cancer or increase in psychological trauma because of abortion.
6. Why should pro-choice individuals advocate for abortion rights? Isn't the right to abortion protected by Roe v. Wade?
   Even though abortion is protected under Roe v. Wade, opponents continue to seek ways to roll back that protection, and access to abortion services is limited. Women still face many barriers in getting abortion services, including lack of abortion providers in their cities and intimidation from anti-choice clinic protesters.
7. How can we reduce the abortion rate in the US?
   Comprehensive sex education programs and prescription coverage of contraception pills and devices are effective ways of reducing the rate of unintended pregnancy in the US, thereby reducing the need for abortion. Health insurance plans should cover all of the commonly used methods of prescription contraception. Funds invested in supporting family planning saves money in the long run. Every tax dollar spent to support family planning services saves an average of $3 in short-term Medicaid costs for pregnancy and newborn health costs. These savings would be much higher if the estimate included all the costs of Medicaid, welfare and other assistance provided to help low-income women whose pregnancies were unplanned.
8. What is the global gag rule?
   As one of his first acts as president, George W. Bush re-imposed the global gag rule (or the "Mexico City Policy") on January 22, 2001. This policy restricts foreign non-governmental organizations from using their own, non-U.S. funds to provide legal abortion services in order to receive U.S. family planning funds. It also prevents them from lobbying their own governments for abortion law reform, and prevents them from providing accurate medical counseling or referrals regarding abortion services.

Contraception

1. Doesn't providing contraception to teens encourage them to be sexually active?
   No. Most teenagers who visit a health care provider for contraception have already had sexual intercourse, often without using contraception regularly or effectively. Contraception is a safe, essential part of preventive health care and should be easily available.
2. Do regulations about abortion, such as the global gag rule, apply to emergency contraception?
   No. Use of emergency contraception does not cause an abortion. Emergency contraception prevents pregnancy and thereby reduces the need for abortion. Medical science defines the beginning of pregnancy as the implantation of a fertilized egg in the lining of a woman's uterus. Implantation begins five to seven days after fertilization (and is completed several days later). Emergency contraception works before implantation and not after a woman is already pregnant. When a woman is already pregnant, emergency contraception does not work and is harmless to the fetus and the mother.
3. Are emergency contraception pills the same as abortion pills?
   No. Emergency contraception pills work before implantation and not after a woman is already pregnant. When a woman is already pregnant, emergency contraception pills do not work and do not cause an abortion. Emergency contraception is achieved through the use of one of several different hormonal formulations--the same as those found in regular birth control pills. These hormonal formulations are completely different from mifepristone (also know as RU-486 or medical abortion).
4. Why should the government spend money on family planning services?
   Every government dollar spent on contraceptive services saves the public approximately $3 in funds that otherwise would have been spent on pregnancy-related and newborn care through Medicaid (2). Moreover, preventing unintended pregnancy contributes significantly to the well-being of women, allowing them to assert control over their own reproductive life and future.
5. What could be harmful about restricting access to contraception for minors through parental consent clauses?
   As in the case of abortion, many health care providers agree that we should work to increase and strengthen family involvement in teenagers' decisions about sexual activity. But requiring parental consent may not always be in the best interest of an adolescent patient. Many prominent national medical organizations, including ARHP, American Academy of Family Physicians, American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and others, have stated that teens should be able to obtain contraceptives confidentially, without government-mandated involvement of parents (3).
6. Why should there be a federal law that requires companies to provide health insurance coverage for prescription contraceptives?
   Full contraceptive coverage in health plans would substantially reduce the costs to the nation of unintended pregnancy--from prenatal care to pregnancy-related absences in the workplace and child care necessary to enable women to return to work. Such coverage would be inexpensive for health insurance companies; it is estimated that providing full contraceptive coverage in employment-based health care plans would cost employers, at most, only $21.40 per employee per year. Currently, the Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contraceptive Coverage Act is pending in Congress. This legislation would require private insurance plans to cover FDA-approved prescription contraceptives and related medical services to the same extent that they cover prescription drugs and other outpatient medical services (4).

Sex Education

1. What's wrong with abstinence-only sex education programs?
   Young people should be taught the importance of abstinence. However, sex education that focuses exclusively on abstinence is not an effective strategy for preventing unintended pregnancy or sexually transmitted infections. Effective school-based sexuality education curricula provide comprehensive, medically accurate information on sexual and reproductive behavior and health. The World Health Organization has noted that programs most effective in changing young people's behavior are those that address abstinence, contraception, and prevention of sexually transmitted infections (5).
2. Does the general public support sex education in schools?
   Sex education is endorsed by a large majority of US citizens. A recent nationwide poll by the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the US found that an overwhelming majoirty of parents and guardians favor sex education programs that teach young people about all aspects of sex and sexuality-including how to use birth control to prevent unintended pregnancy and how to protect against sexually transmitted infections (6).
3. Shouldn't parents be responsible for teaching their children about sex education and sexuality?
   ARHP encourages parents and other responsible adults to learn positive and productive ways to discuss sexuality and to initiate discussions of sexuality with children in their care. However, studies show that many parents and guardians do not talk to their kids about these critical issues and alternative educational strategies are required to ensure every child obtains the information needed to encourage responsible behavior and promote good health. And although it is ideal for every child to live within a functional, intact, and supportive family system, this is not the reality for many children and young adults.

References

1. The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), "Induced Abortion." Facts in Brief. New York: AGI, 2002. http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/ib19.html
2. The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), Fulfilling the Promise: Public Policy and U.S. Family Planning Clinics (2000), at 10; 144 CONG. REC. S9181, S9194 (daily ed. July 19, 1998).
3. Douglas Kirby, No Easy Answers: Research Findings on Programs to Reduce Teen Pregnancy (Mar. 1997), at 25-26, 47.
4. Trussell, "The Economic Value of Contraception: A Comparison of 15 Methods", American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 85, No. 4 (April 1995).
5. World Health Organization web site, "Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health": http://www.who.int/child-adolescent-health
6. Sexuality Information and Education Council of the US web site, "Public Support for Sexuality Education Reaches Highest Level": http://www.siecus.org/parent/pare0003.html