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Recently, the Washington-based Population Institute released its second annual report card. The State of Reproductive Health and Rights: 50-State Report Card compares the rankings of U.S. states in reproductive health and rights.
Most of America isn't doing that well. The country scored a C- overall.
Upon release of the report card, the Population Institute’s President Robert Walker told PRNewsWire, "This year we have seen a lot of victories at the national level, but with states limiting the full scope of that progress.”
The report compared information from things such as Congress’ support of family planning programs to what states across the country are doing in regards to reproductive health care.
PRNewsWire said several states are drastically reducing their funding for family planning and restricting funding to providers of contraceptive services.
Using nine criteria, the Population Institute’s report card ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia.
These criteria included teenage pregnancy rates, sex education programs, access to family planning and abortion services, implementation of Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care Act, and access to emergency contraception in emergency rooms.
The Population Institute’s report card focused on four indicators relating to reproductive health and rights.
First: Effectiveness
Thirty percent of the grade was based on measures of effectiveness which include the latest available data on the teenage pregnancy rate and the rate of unintended pregnancies.
Second: Prevention
Twenty percent comes from the state’s promotion of comprehensive sex education in the schools, and whether or not it supports access to emergency contraception in the emergency room.
Third: Affordability
Thirty percent includes whether states are expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid eligibility rules for family planning, and funding for family planning agencies serving low-income families.
Fourth: Access
The final 20 percent asks whether the state enforces harassing or burdensome requirements on people looking for abortion services or family planning.
Just four states -- California, Maryland, Oregon and Washington -- received an A or an A+. Oregon received the highest score. Seventeen states received a B- or higher grade including Illinois, New Jersey, New York and South Carolina.
Nine states were awarded a C grade, including Massachusetts, Colorado, DC, Hawaii and Arizona. Twelve states received a D, including Alabama, Nevada, New Hampshire and Virginia.
There were 13 states that received a failing grade, that is an F. These states were Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wyoming.
Sources:
"America Gets An Embarrassing C- In Women's Reproductive Health." Jezebel. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
http://jezebel.com/america-gets-an-embarrassing-c-in-womens-reproductive-1500224278
Bahadur, Nina. "America Gets A C- In Women's Reproductive Health, No One Is Surprised." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 13 Jan. 2014. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/01/13/reproductive-health-score-america_n_4591322.html
"Population Institute Releases 2013 Report Card on Reproductive Health and Rights." -- WASHINGTON, Jan. 7, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ --. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/population-institute-releases-2013-report-card-on-reproductive-health-and-rights-239154781.html
"The Lancet iPad app: Articles in a new light." Reproductive health in the USA: must do better: The Lancet. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIISO140-6736(14)60057-X/fulltext?rss=yes
"The State of Reproductive Health & Rights 50 State Report Card." The Population Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Jan. 2014.
http://www.populationinstitute.org/external/report-card/2013/overview.pdf?utm_content=buffer4e9c7&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter.com&utm_campaign=buffer
Reviewed January 23, 2014
by Michele Blacksberg RN
Edited by Jody Smith
Add a Comment2 Comments
i have the right to go out and purchase a condom, a birth control pill or an early abortion anywhere. My rights are not diminished because someone else didn't pay for it.
January 29, 2014 - 3:19pmThis Comment
Does a writer really have to be an unrestrained shill for the abortion industry to journal for this magazine? Reproductive Health??!!! Wouldn't that mean a healthy pregnancy, a healthy baby, that nine months after conception everybody is healthy? But no, according to this article, reproductive health means that it's easy to get an abortion. If a state dares to consider the reproductive health of the baby (which could, by the way, be a "her"), why, that state deserves an F on the reproductive health report card. And then there's this euphemistic term "emergency contraception." Honey, if you're going to the emergency room to get rid of your baby, the proper term is abortion. Do you lockstep lovers of abortion ever just stop and listen to yourselves? In closing, let me point out that most of the abortions within my frame of reference have been promoted not in the cause of "women's rights" but by men who shrink from taking responsibility for their actions.
January 23, 2014 - 5:54pmThis Comment