MARAL Pro-Choice Michigan's Pro-Active Legislative Agenda
MARAL Pro-Choice Michigan uses the political process to guarantee every woman the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive choices, including preventing unintended pregnancy, bearing healthy children, and choosing legal abortion. The following is MARAL Pro-Choice Michigan’s Legislative Agenda for promoting sound reproductive health policy and defending against those potential laws that seek to undermine our rights.
Abstinence Plus: Comprehensive Sexuality Education
Responsible sex education provides teens with age-appropriate, medically and factually accurate information about their reproductive health. “Abstinence Plus” sex education can protect teen health by delaying sex, increasing contraceptive use and teaching the lifelong skills to protect against unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases and infections.
Contraceptive Equity
Access to contraceptive methods helps to reduce unintended pregnancy and decrease the need for abortion. In Michigan, 30% of insurance plans have prescription drug coverage, but do NOT provide contraceptive coverage. Michigan should require health plans providing coverage for prescription drugs and devices to cover contraception as well.
Emergency Contraceptives
Each year 25,000 women in the U.S. become pregnant as a result of rape. An estimated 22,000 of these pregnancies could be prevented if assault survivors had timely access to emergency contraception. Emergency Contraception (EC) is a high dose of ordinary birth control that when taken within 72 hours is up to 89% effective in preventing pregnancy. By providing EC to rape survivors quickly, emergency room staff can also empower survivors with a sense of control to cope with the trauma. Emergency contraceptives must be made available to sexual assault survivors in all Michigan hospital emergency rooms.
Protecting Freedom of Choice
A woman’s right to choose safe and legal abortion hangs by a thread in the Supreme Court. If the Supreme Court reverses Roe v. Wade, the states would have the power to decide the fate of choice. In Michigan we have a pre-Roe criminal ban on abortion. In order to prevent this pre-Roe ban from taking effect, Michigan needs to codify the right to privacy in Michigan’s state Constitution, thus ensuring the ongoing protection of woman’s rights.
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