Birth control

By Cecile Richards, President Of Planned Parenthood Federation Of America

March 19, 2009 -- “With nearly 750,000 teens getting pregnant every year, the United States is facing a teen pregnancy health care crisis. When something is broken, our country works to fix it. We must work together to fix this crisis and reduce unintended pregnancies.    » read more »

Lauds Appointment of Longtime Women’s Advocates Jarrett and Tchen

Washington, DC — Planned Parenthood Federation of America applauded President Barack Obama for signing an executive order today establishing a White House Council on Women and Girls under the leadership of longtime women’s advocates Valerie Jarrett and Tina Tchen.    » read more »

Washington, DC — Planned Parenthood Federation of America today applauded the passage of legislation to make birth control affordable again for millions of women who obtain contraceptives at community health centers and college clinics. The provision was included in the 2009 omnibus appropriations bill that passed the U.S. Senate today and the House of Representatives two weeks ago.

In 2005, Congress passed the Deficit Reduction Act, which tightened eligibility for nominally priced drugs. In doing so, Congress inadvertently cut off safety-net providers and every college and university health center from obtaining contraception at a low cost, and passing on those savings to their patients. As a result, women have been paying up to 10 times more each month for basic contraception.    » read more »

April 18, 2008 -- The Committee will hold a hearing titled, “Domestic Abstinence-Only Programs: Assessing the Evidence” on Wednesday, April 23, 2008, in 2154 Rayburn House Office Building.

Federally-funded abstinence-only programs require the exclusive teaching of abstinence until marriage and prohibit teaching about condoms or other contraceptives — other than to discuss failure rates. These programs have received over $1.3 billion in federal funding over the past decade. Medical and scientific experts, as well as youth educators, will testify regarding the public health evidence of the effectiveness of abstinence-only programs and of more comprehensive programs.

o Ms. Shelby Knox, Youth Speaker    » read more »

Bill Provides Common-Sense Fix to Assist Millions of College Students and Hundreds of Thousands of Lower-Income Women

November 14, 2007 -- Washington, DC - Senator Clinton joined several of her Senate colleagues in cosponsoring the “Prevention Through Affordable Access Act.” This bill would correct a provision included in the Deficit Reduction Act of 2006 (DRA) that unintentionally cut off every college and university health clinic and hundreds of safety net providers from being able to offer affordable prescription drugs to students and lower-income women.    » read more »

"The Compassionate Care for Servicewomen Act" Will Ensure Servicewomen Have Access to EC

July 17, 2007 -- Washington, DC - Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY) introduced legislation today to ensure that U.S. servicewomen have access to and information about emergency contraception (EC). Congressmen Mike Michaud (D-ME) and Chris Shays (R-CT) are the champions of this legislation in the House of Representatives.    » read more »

Prohibits exempting birth control from prescription drug coverage, requires hospitals to offer emergency contraception to victims of sexual assault

May 30, 2007 -- Salem – Today Oregon Governor Ted Kulongoski signed into law House Bill 2700, requiring employee health insurance plans to provide prescription drug coverage of birth control and emergency contraception be made available by hospital emergency rooms to victims of sexual assault.    » read more »