The agenda below describes our advocacy priorities in 2011 at the federal, state, and city levels.
Protect Women’s Access to Preventive Reproductive Health Care and Family Planning Services
Federal
· Defend against attempts to prohibit all Planned Parenthood health centers from receiving any federal funds for any purpose, including providing affordable cancer screenings, birth control, HIV testing, and testing and treatment for other sexually transmitted infections. (H.R. 217, Pence – THIS BILL WAS DEFEATED)
· Protect and increase Title X family planning funding. (H.R. 217, Pence – THIS BILL WAS DEFEATED)
State
· Maintain and increase funding for family planning in New York State.
· Maintain and increase Medicaid reimbursement rates as they relate to women’s health care and family planning.
· Increase individuals’ access to emergency contraception (EC) including allowing individuals under 17 to access EC without a prescription. (S. 892, Krueger/A. 85, Paulin)
· Ensure that women have access to purchasing contraception regardless of pharmacists’ beliefs. (S. 894A, Krueger/no parallel bill)
City
· Secure funding for Planned Parenthood of New York City to continue to provide health care services to 50,000 New Yorkers annually.
Guarantee Access to Quality and Affordable Health Care
Federal
· Work on implementing the Affordable Care Act to ensure that all women have the broadest access to affordable reproductive health care services. Advocate for birth control to be included as part of the essential health benefit package and to continue to be exempt from any co-pays.
State
· Ensure that the New York State health insurance exchanges include the broad array of preventive reproductive health services.
· Continue to ensure that all women, men, and adolescents receive confidential health care, irrespective of their insurance coverage.
· Work in coalition with immigrant rights groups to ensure that all individuals have access to health care regardless of documentation status.
City
· Ensure women have access to qualified, licensed medical providers by requiring crisis pregnancy centers to disclose when they do not have a licensed medical provider on site and disclose that they do not provide abortions, emergency contraception, or referrals for those services. (Introduction 371A, Lappin – THIS BILL WAS ENACTED)
Defend Access to Abortion Care
Federal
· Ensure abortion coverage is included in the health care exchange and in New York State health care plans.
· Defeat attacks on private coverage for abortion services. Advocate for public funding of abortion services.
· Specifically defeat H.R. 3, legislation that attempts to take away comprehensive private health insurance coverage from American women by imposing new taxes on small businesses and individuals. (H.R. 3, Smith)
State
· Enact the Reproductive Health Act. (S. 2844, Stewart-Cousins/A. 06112, Glick; S. 02524, Klein/no parallel bill)
· Maintain New York State Medicaid funding for abortion services.
City
· Continue to encourage local New York City elected officials to oppose abortion restrictions on the federal and state levels.
Empower Individuals to Create Healthy Communities
Federal
· Continue to support federal funding for medically accurate, comprehensive sex education.
State
· Urge New York State to require that all youth will have access to comprehensive sex education. Advocate for legislation to ensure that sex education is age-appropriate and medically accurate.
· Support same-sex couples’ rights to marry and obtain rights and responsibilities currently enjoyed by married couples.
· Ensure the continued coverage of prenatal care for at-risk populations.
· Incorporate cultural competency indicators into standards for health care providers. (S. 2743, Serrano/A. 6449, Barron)
· Ensure reimbursement for health care providers that utilize language-access services. (A. 661, Gottfried/no parallel bill)
· Oppose the policy that allows condoms to be used as evidence of prostitution. (S. 323, Montgomery/A. 1008, Clark)
City
· Require sex education to be taught in New York City schools.
