Where the Rubber Meets the Road: NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado Foundation and Partners to Host Groundbreaking Regional Health Care Summit
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 14, 2009
Samantha Levine, National Institute for Reproductive Health, 646-520-3510
Toni Panetta, NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado Foundation, 303-394-1973 ext 17 Where the Rubber Meets the Road: NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado Foundation and
Partners to Host Groundbreaking Regional Health Care Summit Groups Focus on Local Solutions to Local Problems DENVER (Sept. 14) -- Leveraging the Rocky Mountain West’s role as an up-and-coming leader on national policy issues, the NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado Foundation will host the groundbreaking Rocky Mountain West Urban Initiative for Reproductive Health Regional Summit in Denver September 23-25. The summit is the result of a unique partnership between the Denver-based NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado Foundation and the Urban Initiative of the New York City-based National Institute for Reproductive Health. In 2008, the Urban Initiative brought together delegations of advocates and public officials from over 35 cities across the United States with an unprecedented opportunity to work together to uncover solutions to urban reproductive health issues. Building on the success of that model, the Rocky Mountain West Urban Initiative for Reproductive Health summit will convene more than 100 mayors, policymakers, public health officials, and advocates from over 14 cities and seven states. Participants from Colorado, Idaho, Montana, New Mexico, Texas, Utah and Wyoming will discuss challenges they face in meeting urban communities’ reproductive health care needs and best practices to deliver critical services. “After nearly a decade of insufficient federal and state support, our cities and urban communities are in a serious crisis when it comes to reproductive health,” says Emilie C. Ailts, executive director of NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado. “Infant mortality rates, low-weight birth rates, unintended pregnancy, the percentage of teenage mothers, and the spread of sexually transmitted infections are all higher in urban communities, especially among low-income women and women of color.” “It takes dedicated and resourceful leaders at the local level to address these challenges in an effort to support the reproductive health of women and girls in urban communities,” Ailts said. “This summit will bring together some of the region’s most innovative elected and public health officials who already have shown they have the will and influence to drastically improve the health of women and families living in their communities.” In Austin, for example, a local Planned Parenthood affiliate responded to pharmacists’ refusing to fill birth control prescriptions by working with the City Council to help craft a pharmacist “no refusals” ordinance that requires any pharmacy contracting with the city to fill clients' prescriptions at the time the prescription is presented at the pharmacy. “It is precisely this type of collaboration that will increase access to reproductive health services and serve as a model for the rest of the nation,” points out Kelli Conlin, president of the National Institute. “Together we can combat a growing list of reproductive health gaps found within the Rocky Mountain West,” Ailts said. “Take Denver, for example, where 27% of mothers don’t receive prenatal care until after their first trimester and approximately 10% of babies are born prematurely. In Texas – which tops the nation in repeat pregnancies to teens -- Austin has had to find innovative ways to ensure prescriptions for birth control are filled.” The Rocky Mountain West Urban Initiative for Reproductive Health is the first regional summit of its kind. Denver joins Atlanta, Chicago and Los Angeles in hosting regional conferences this year that will to provide an opportunity for urban leaders to discuss and synthesize reproductive health policy models to meet the needs of the nation’s urban communities. “These summits are truly the first time we’ve brought together leaders to focus on solutions. The good news is, there are solutions,” adds Conlin. “We’re at the edge of creating something brand-new here that could have really grand results.” Press interested in attending the summit should contact Toni Panetta at (303) 394-1973 ext 17 or tpanetta@prochoicecolorado.org. ### The NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado Foundation, a 501 (c)(3) organization, is the tax-exempt entity that supports educational programs to promote access to the full range of reproductive health care options necessary to prevent unintended pregnancy, bear healthy children, or access safe, legal abortion. The Urban Initiative is a multi-year project of the National Institute for Reproductive Health that works to create and promote local policy solutions to address reproductive health problems facing cities across the nation. http://www.nirhealth.org/sections/urbaninitiative/summits/rockymountainwest.asp
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