Welcome to the Public Affairs & Advocacy Section of the Family Planning Council
Public Affairs is the hub of the Council's advocacy activities in support of women's health care issues. Specifically, staff in this Department work on media relations, public relations, legislative activities, and community organizing.
If you want to help the Council promote its Mission, protect the programs we support, and expand access to reproductive health care, you've come to the right place.
Here's what we are working on right now and how you can help:
Keeping Women Healthy
Protecting Title X
Mandating Insurance Coverage for Contraception
Increase Funding for Microbicide Research
Over-the-Counter Emergency Contraception
Keeping Women Healthy
Keeping Women Healthy (KWH) is a statewide effort to provide preventive health care services to adult, uninsured women in Pennsylvania.
There are over 100 Pennsylvania organizations and institutions that are in full support of Keeping Women Healthy.
Program components include:
- Screenings for cervical, colorectal and breast cancers
- Diagnosis and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases for women & their partners
- Contraception
- Screening for hypertension, anemia and diabetes
- Ongoing education
Since 2002, $1 million annually has been available through the Department of Health for the KWH Cervical Cancer Screening Program.
The services provided through this first KWH program include early screening and limited treatment for pre-cancerous conditions. KWH providers use the latest screening and treatment options. Thin prep, LEEP, HPV typing, cone biopsy, cryosurgery, and colposcopy are some of the services provided, and are the most sophisticated and effective options available.
In 2003, 40,000 treatments for pre-cancerous conditions of the cervix were provided through the KWH Cervical Cancer Screening Program. In addition, 145,000 Pap smears were performed.
Right now we are working with members of the Pennsylvania House and Senate to include funding in the FY 2005 state budget for the Keeping Women Healthy program.
Click here to let us know if you want to help in our campaign.
Protecting Title X
Title X (10) is also known as the Federal family planning program. This program uses public funds to support comprehensive family planning and related services to low-income women, men, and adolescents across the country. Here in the five county Philadelphia area, the Council uses Title X funds to support services at 25 local agencies.
Click here for the listing of all the Title X supported family planning clinics in the five county Philadelphia area.
Right now, we are waiting to see how the Bush Administration moves on Title X. If history is any example, we can expect this Administration to be hostile to the program and to move to dramatically alter basic program components. We will be updating this section of the website with news about Title X and we will be posting alerts. You can also visit the website for the National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) for the latest information about Title X.
Visit the NFPRHA website.
Mandating Insurance Coverage for Contraception
The Council is part of a statewide coalition working to enact legislation which will mandate insurance coverage for all FDA approved methods of prescription contraception. Currently, there are two bills in the Pennsylvania House on contraceptive coverage. Rep. Connie Williams (D-Montgomery County), who is also a member of the Council's Board of Directors, has introduced one of these bills and is working hard to move it through the legislative process.
There are currently over a dozen states where insurance coverage for contraception is mandatory.
U.S. Congressman Jim Greenwood (R-Bucks County), is a leader in the effort to enact Federal contraceptive coverage legislation.
Visit the National Women's Law Center for information on contraceptive equity.
Increase funding for Microbicide Research
Microbicides represent an important breakthrough in the prevention of HIV and STDs among women. The Council is working as part of a national campaign to increase public awareness about the need for Federal funding in microbicide research.
For more information on microbicides and the national campaign visit the Alliance for Microbicide Development .
Over-the-Counter Emergency Contraception
The Council has joined a national effort to make emergency contraception available as an over the counter method of birth control. Over 60 national and local organizations petitioned the FDA to make emergency contraception much easier for women to obtain. We will update this section of the website as this effort makes its way through the FDA bureaucracy.
For more information visit the Center for Reproductive Law & Policy.
You may also contact as at publicaffairs@familyplanning.org
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