Why Prevention First?
WHY PREVENTION FIRST?  In today’s charged political environment, important debates about effective reproductive health care policy sometimes get lost in divisive and emotionally charged rhetoric. Prevention First Colorado presents a common-sense, common-ground approach to advancing the health of Colorado women and girls without denying them access to safe, legal medical care. In Colorado alone, more than 27,500 births result from unintended or unwanted pregnancies. If you factor in unintended or unwanted pregnancies that result in miscarriage or abortion, the percentage is even higher. We know that unintended pregnancy has been shown to result in adverse health outcomes that affect the mother, infant, and family. For example, 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. 1 We also know that 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. 2 What’s Being Done?Until now, public policy efforts to reduce unintended pregnancy have tended to focus on promoting abstinence until marriage. Some community-based organizations also have focused on improving access to birth control by reducing the cost and increasing the distribution locations to receive birth control. While these are important approaches, the majority of unintended pregnancies occur in metro areas where there is access to low-cost or free contraception. Work conducted by Prevention First Colorado focuses on the question: What are the barriers and challenges facing Colorado women and girls in preventin unintended pregnancy? Finding the answer to this question will provide us with the tools we need to successfully reduce unintended pregnancy in Colorado. Scope and Work The main goals of Prevention First Colorado are: - To conduct in-depth social research to identify the real-world obstacles and barriers that prevent Colorado women from using birth control and family-planning resources effectively.
- To identify public policies that will help Colorado women make healthy birth control and family-planning choices based on scientifically collected social science data.
- To develop a model education program that addresses the barriers and challenges that Colorado women face regarding birth control and family planning, and provide them with the tools and resources necessary to address these challenges.
NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado and NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado Foundation have worked to preserve and improve access to the full range of reproductive health care services for women and men across Colorado with the following goals: - Creating an accurate assessment of reproductive health services in Colorado.
- Educating the public regarding the full range of reproductive choices.
- Mobilizing communities to create positive change and improve access to reproductive health services.
In addition to public-awareness and outreach efforts, NARAL Pro-Choice Colorado has published the following bilingual reproductive health resources to edcuate Coloradans, health care providers, community-based organizations and others working to ensure women and their families have access to the critical health care services they need: -------------- notes | 
