Family planning improves the health of women and children. When more women have access to family-planning services, they have safer pregnancies and healthier babies. The number of unintended pregnancies also drops.
The Challenge
Millions of women can't afford to see a doctor and don't get the family planning they need. The effects are dangerous for women's health:
- Lack of access to family-planning services makes it even harder for women to have healthy pregnancies.
- Women miss out on screenings for sexually transmitted diseases and breast and cervical cancer.
- The need for abortion increases because more women face unintended pregnancy.
Many people lack access to family-planning services:
- Low-income women and men who cannot afford health care don't get the family-planning services they need.
- Teens face more unintended pregnancies.
It's clear that women are harmed when they don't get the family-planning services they need. Unfortunately, anti-choice members of Congress refuse to take action.
Our Solution
Our country must step up to the plate and make sure that women have access to family-planning services regardless of their income. Fortunately, the federal government helps pay for family-planning services to low-income people through a program called Title X (ten). However, Congress does not invest nearly enough money in this program.
Family-planning services include:
- Counseling on birth-control methods and abstinence
- Screening for sexually transmitted diseases
- Breast and pelvic exams
- Pap tests
- Well-baby care
