RECOMMENDATIONS:
In 1995, the Institute of Medicine, Committee on Unintended
Pregnancy issued the following recommendations:
- "The extent of unintended pregnancy and its serious consequences
are poorly appreciated throughout the United States. Although considerable attention is
now focused on teenage pregnancy and nonmarital childbearing, along with continuing
controversy and even violence over abortion, the common link among all these issues -
pregnancy that is unintended at the time of conception - is essentially invisible...
Accordingly, the committee urges, first and foremost, that the nation adopt a new social
norm:
- All pregnancies should be intended - that is, they should be
consciously and clearly intended at the time of conception."(17)
This goal promotes planning for pregnancy as much as avoiding an
unintended pregnancy. Activities to reach this goal in West Virginia would include the
following:
- Provide public funding - federal, state, and local - for
comprehensive contraceptive services, especially those for low-income women and
adolescents who face major financial barriers in securing such care.
- Increase access to contraception
1. Expand the number of Family Planning Program sites in West
Virginia.
2. Extend Medicaid coverage for all postpartum women for two years
following childbirth for contraceptive services, including sterilization.
- Improve knowledge about contraception, unintended
pregnancy, and reproductive health.
Family Planning is a preventive measure which supports reproductive
health care, as well as the emotional and social health of individuals and families.
Family Planning services have had, and will continue to have, a significant impact on
maternal and child health and socio-economic status of West Virginians.
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