NARAL PRO-CHOICE COLORADO LAUDS GENERAL ASSEMBLY FOR PUTTING PREVENTION FIRST IN WOMEN’S HEALTH CARE
SJR 31 Emphasizes Prevention First in Reproductive Health Care to Reduce Unintended PregnanciesDENVER (May 1) – NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado congratulated Colorado's General Assembly for standing up for the health of Colorado women and their families by supporting Senate Joint Resolution 31 (Boyd, Borodkin): Emphasizing Prevention First in Reproductive Health Care Policy in Colorado to Reduce Unintended Pregnancies. "The General Assembly has shown that it is committed to empowering Colorado women to make choices that create healthy lives, children, families and communities," said Kathryn Wittneben, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado. "By emphasizing prevention first in reproductive health care policy, Colorado can lead the nation in reducing unintended pregnancy and the need for abortion without denying women and their families access to generally accepted medical care." According to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, 40 percent of births in Colorado are the result of unintended pregnancies – defined by CDPHE as "unwanted" or "mistimed" pregnancies. The state has a goal of reducing that figure to 30 percent by 2010. "Every child born in Colorado should be a wanted child and every child has the right to be raised in an environment that fosters her or his opportunities for success," Wittneben said. "Colorado can do better not only to make sure each child born in our state is a wanted child, but also to ensure that Colorado women and their families have access to the information, tools and resources they need to make responsible decisions about important life issues such as whether and when to have children." Monday's action was the third time the General Assembly has supported measures to reduce unintended or unwanted pregnancy during the current legislative session. Earlier in the session, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 60 (Boyd, McGihon): Emergency Contraception Information for Sexual Assault Survivors, and HB 1292 (Todd, Windels): Responsible Sex Education. "I congratulate the lawmakers who voted for SJR 31 for recognizing that unintended pregnancies have serious repercussions for women and their families," Wittneben said. "When considered together with their votes on SB 60 and HB 1292, legislators who supported this resolution have shown tremendous leadership and demonstrated that they truly believe in advancing the health of Colorado women." By a 39-24 vote, the Colorado House of Representatives on Monday passed SJR 31, less than a week after the Colorado Senate passed SJR by a 23-11 vote on April 24. NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado (NPCC) is the political action arm of the pro-choice movement in Colorado. NPCC has more than 30,000 supporters statewide and works to develop and sustain a constituency that uses the political process to guarantee every woman the right to make personal decisions regarding the full range of reproductive health choices, including preventing unintended pregnancies, bearing healthy children and choosing legal abortion. ### IMPACT OF UNINTENDED PREGNANCY IN COLORADO - Unintended pregnancy has been shown to result in adverse health outcomes that affect the mother, infant, and family. Pregnancies characterized as unintended are correlated with late or inadequate prenatal care, poor nutrition, and exposure of the fetus to harmful substances like tobacco, alcohol, and other drugs. ("Health Watch 43: Unintended Pregnancy: Colorado Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)" 1997-1999. Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, accessed at: http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/hs/pubs/brief43Web_ps.pdf)
- Unintended pregnancies are associated with social and economic hardships, failure to achieve educational and career goals, domestic violence, and relationship dissolution. The child of an unwanted pregnancy is at greater risk for low birth weight, for dying in the first year of life, and of being abused or neglected. (Ibid)
- Research indicates more than 27,500 births resulting from unintended or unwanted pregnancies occur in Colorado each year. ("Colorado Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS)," Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, accessed at http://www.cdphe.state.co.us/hs/prams/)
- An estimated 15,500 women obtained abortions in Colorado in 2000. ("State Facts about Abortion: Colorado," Guttmacher Institute, accessed at http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/sfaa/pdf/colorado.pdf)
- With an estimated 12,130 teenage pregnancies each year, Colorado has the 22nd highest teenage pregnancy rate in the nation. (“Contraception Counts: Colorado," Guttmacher Institute, accessed at http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/state_data/states/colorado.html)
- Unintended or unwanted teen pregnancies cost Colorado taxpayers $101 million in 2004.("By the Numbers: The Public Costs of Teen Childbearing in Colorado," The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, accessed at http://www.teenpregnancy.org/costs/pdf/COLORADO.pdf)
- Only one-third of teen mothers receive a high school diploma nationally, and less than 2% obtain a college degree by age 30. Nearly 80 percent of unmarried teen mothers end up on welfare. ("General Facts and Stats," The National Campaign to Prevent Teen Pregnancy, accessed at http://www.teenpregnancy.org/resources/data/genlfact.asp)
- Contraceptive use is a key predictor of women's recourse to abortion: American women who are at risk of experiencing an unintended pregnancy but are not using contraceptives account for almost half of all abortions. ("State Facts about Abortion: Colorado.")
- Understanding barriers to and attitudes about contraceptive use will promote sound, research-based public policy and public awareness strategies to reduce unintended pregnancies in Colorado and the need for abortion.
UNINTENDED PREGNANCY RATES BY COUNTY
COLORADO PREGNANCY RISK ASSESSMENT MONITORING SYSTEM 1997- 2005
COLORADO DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTPercentage of Births Resulting from Unwanted or Mistimed Pregnancies*
1998-2001 2002-2005 1998-2005
Colorado 39.5 39.8 39.7
Adams 41.8 43.6 42.7
Alamosa 45.2 47.7 46.7
Arapahoe 39.9 40.6 40.3
Archuleta** - - 47.6
Baca - - -
Bent - - -
Boulder 33.8 32.6 33.2
Chaffee - - 39
Cheyenne - - -
Clear Creek - - -
Conejos - - 40.5
Costilla - - -
Crowley - - -
Custer - - -
Delta 49.9 48.6 49.2
Denver 40.1 43.1 41.7
Dolores - - -
Douglas 22 27.6 24.8
Eagle 32.4 29.6 30.8
El Paso 44.1 43.6 43.9
Elbert 37.4 - 43.4
Fremont 56 52.3 54.1
Garfield 43 39.3 40.9
Gilpin - - -
Grand - - 36.5
Gunnison - 16.8 25.7
Hinsdale - - -
Huerfano - - -
Jackson - - -
Jefferson 34.8 34.8 34.8
Kiowa - - -
Kit Carson - - -
La Plata 35.9 41 38.7
Lake - - 42.7
Larimer 39.7 37.9 38.7
Las Animas 48.5 - 48.7
Lincoln - - -
Logan 52.5 45.9 49
Mesa 45.2 44.4 44.8
Mineral - - -
Moffat 36.8 41.1 39.1
Montezuma 51.7 29.3 40.1
Montrose 38.7 40.9 39.8
Morgan 49.1 46.2 47.6
Otero 52.9 58.1 55.5
Ouray - - -
Park - 42.2 39.7
Phillips - - -
Pitkin - - 28.7
Prowers 42.6 52.6 47.4
Pueblo 42.1 46.7 43.7
Rio Blanco - - -
Rio Grande - - 49.3
Routt 24.7 27.7 26.4
Saguache - - 41.9
San Juan - - -
San Miguel - - -
Sedgwick - - -
Summit 33.2 30.9 32
Teller 44.1 31.6 37.4
Washington - - -
Weld 42.9 37.4 38.8
Yuma - - 33.4
*The Colorado Pregnancy Risk Assessment Monitoring System (PRAMS) measures respondents’ attitudes toward pregnancies resulting in live births; "unintended pregnancies" includes pregnancies that women characterized as either not wanted at any time (unwanted) or not wanted until some time in the future (mistimed). Because PRAMS measures respondents’ attitudes only toward pregnancies resulting in live births, unintended pregnancy rates above DO NOT reflect pregnancies that ended in abortion or miscarriage. It is generally accepted that the majority of pregnancies ending in abortion are unintended or unwanted pregnancies, so PRAMS data under-reports the percentage of unwanted or unintended pregnancies experienced by women in Colorado. **Rates are unavailable for Archuleta and other counties marked with "-" because of the small number of respondents. ***PRAMS does not provide data for Broomfield County ### Tuesday, May 1, 2007 Contact: Kathryn Wittneben
NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado
Office: 303.394.1973, ext. 12
kwittneben@ProChoiceColorado.org
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