FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: August 2, 2001

STATE EXPANSIONS OF FAMILY PLANNING UNDER MEDICAID PREVENT UNINTENDED PREGNANCY AND REDUCE ABORTION

New Legislation Would Allow State Efforts to Continue

In light of the recent Bush Administration decision to refuse state requests to expand eligibility for Medicaid-covered family planning services, Senator Lincoln Chafee (R-RI) and Representative Nita Lowey (D-NY) introduced the "Family Planning State Empowerment Act." This legislation is designed to allow states to expand family planning services to uninsured and low-income individuals who would not otherwise qualify for Medicaid.

Since the early 1990s, 14 states have been granted special permission by the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) to expand Medicaid coverage of family planning services to uninsured and low-income women and men who would not otherwise qualify for Medicaid. According to the most recent data available from The Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI), at least 1.3 million low-income individuals a year obtain family planning services as a result of these programs. State health agencies say that these programs are cost-effective and successful in helping women avoid unplanned pregnancy. The following are state-specific examples:

• In California, 29% of contraceptive clients were not using a method prior to their first visit; after that visit, 96% were using a method.
• California's Medicaid family planning program enabled 108,000 women, including 24,000 teens, to avoid an unintended pregnancy in FY 1998-1999. This averted $511.8 million in public expenditures for medical care and social services and prevented 41,000 abortions.
• In Rhode Island, the percent of Medicaid recipients becoming pregnant within 18 months after giving birth dropped from 41% in 1993 to 29% in 1999.

The president of The Alan Guttmacher Institute, Sara Seims, comments on the new policy of the Bush Administration to discontinue state expansion of Medicaid-eligible family planning, "This misguided policy undermines states' efforts to reduce rates of unintended pregnancy, abortion and infant mortality. It hurts millions of low-income women across the nation who are in dire need of greater access to affordable contraceptives."

For more background information on expanding eligibility for family planning under Medicaid, see the following analyses on The Alan Guttmacher Institute website at www.guttmacher.org:

• "California Program Shows Benefits of Expanding Family Planning Eligibility," by Rachel Benson Gold, published in The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, October 2000.
• "State Efforts to Expand Medicaid-Funded Family Planning Show Promise," By Rachel Benson Gold, published in The Guttmacher Report on Public Policy, April 1999.
• "State Policies In Brief: Medicaid Family Planning Waivers," updated July 1, 2001.

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