Lieutenant Governor Barbara Lawton addressed the "2003 Pathways to Teen Pregnancy Prevention and Intervention" conference today at the Alliant Center in Madison, calling for comprehensive strategies for adolescent pregnancy prevention and to combat the spread of sexually transmitted infection.
The Lieutenant Governor called for an integrated approach to women's health that would recognize sex-specific aspects of health and disease, as well as disparities in the health care experience of diverse populations, address the needs of a growing, aging population of women, and place reproductive health care at its core.
"When a young woman seeks contraceptives, she likely makes her first point of entry in this continuum of care-her first act of taking responsibility for her own health," Lawton said. "Often that health care provider is her only contact to provide very important information and introductions to other available help."
The Lieutenant Governor pointed to an example of successful, smart public policy for women: the federal Medicaid waiver for family planning. The waiver reimburses the state for reproductive health care services, including pregnancy prevention and pap smears, for women between 15 and 44 who are at or below 185% of the federal poverty level. The waiver focuses on women of reproductive age who, if they became pregnant, would require more expensive medical and economic assistance.
"Every dime we spend under this waiver becomes a dollar with federal reimbursement," said the Lt. Governor. "With increased access to family planning services, we are projected to prevent 12,000 abortions over the 5-year term of this project."
"Yet fewer than a dozen legislators decided, without offering a public hearing, to block implementation of the waiver. They would deny an estimated 50,000 women a chance to visit the doctor; they would turn away $17 million that could be saved in scarce taxpayer dollars-all because they don't believe young women have the right to confidential medical care."
Lawton told the audience of 200 that their advocacy was essential to save the Family Planning Waiver and to retain critical health care services for women across the state.
"Our public policy goals must be to respect individual rights, and to make the most effective use of scarce resources with sound investments in the health and well-being of our citizens. The Medicaid Family Planning Waiver is smart public policy. It will save lives and initiate thousands of women in a lifetime of good, proactive preventive health care."
