District Profiles: Reproductive Health Indicators
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH IN COLORADO: A STATE PROFILE
Baseline metrics reveal the need for a comprehensive reproductive health care agenda
QUICK LINKS BACKGROUND In recent years, health care reform has taken center stage as a public policy priority, both in Colorado and nationwide. The increasing costs of health care coverage and the rising number of people who are either uninsured or underinsured justify public and political cries for robust debate about the state of the nation’s health care system. It is within this environment that a comprehensive reproductive health care agenda must be developed. Reproductive health care policy can no longer be marginalized as “just abortion politics,” thereby precluding any conversation about policies to prevent unintended pregnancy and the spread of sexually transmitted diseases; prenatal and neonatal care; and the decreasing numbers of health care personnel trained to provide comprehensive reproductive health care services. NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado researched and compiled a collection of reproductive health care indicators by state legislative district as an educational resource to enable policymakers to examine baseline heath care needs and disparities by geographic location. In issuing this collection of reproductive health care indicators, NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado invites all those with an interest in health care policy – from patients to health care practitioners, from employers of all sizes to insurance companies, from policymakers to advocacy organizations – to recognize that comprehensive health care reform must be addressed in a manner that reflects the full spectrum of reproductive choices a woman faces over the course of her lifetime.
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