Our 2008 Action Agenda

 

Protect Women’s Health

FPA will lead the fight to pass the Reproductive Health and Privacy Protection Act. This legislation will protect the fundamental right of women to control their personal reproductive health decisions, including the right to choose or refuse contraception and abortion care. FPA will oppose any federal or state attempts to restrict a woman’s constitutional right to choose.

Funding for Reproductive Health Care

Years of flat funding, onerous federal policies and spiraling medical costs have led to enormous fiscal challenges for New York’s family planning centers. FPA will work to:

Increase state funding to ensure that patients have access to improved contraceptive methods, immunizations like the HPV vaccine, and treatment for sexually transmitted infections.

Reform Medicaid rates to support cost-effective preventive health care in community-based settings. Family planning rates have been frozen since 1992. Medicaid rates must reflect the current costs of services.

Oppose new federal requirements that restrict New York’s family planning Medicaid waivers by limiting services covered and imposing burdensome documentation requirements creating barriers to care.

 
Sex Education

Young people need honest, accurate information to make safe and responsible choices about their sexual health. FPA supports the passage of the Healthy Teens Act to help schools and communities provide teens with real sex education and strengthen parent-teen communication. On the federal level, FPA supports Prevention First legislation, which will allow youth across the country to have access to comprehensive sex education.

Immigrant Women’s Health

Immigrants constitute a significant portion of women who lack access to preventive family planning care. FPA will work to increase immigrant women’s access to reproductive health care through education and outreach, and strengthen cultural competency among family planning providers. Health centers and hospitals must be able to secure Medicaid reimbursement for interpretation services to ensure that limited English proficient (LEP) clients receive appropriate care.

International Family Planning

Women and families around the world need access to basic reproductive health care. FPA will fight to overturn the Global Gag Rule and other destructive policies impeding international family planning and HIV/AIDS prevention programs.