PDF D C A A 50-STATE REPORT CARD

JANUARY 2016

THE STATE OF REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS:

D

C

A A 50-STATE

REPORT CARD

B F

U.S. REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS ON A DANGEROUS PRECIPICE

The status of reproductive health and rights in the U.S. is on a dangerous precipice. In 2015 the U.S. House of Representatives voted seven times to defund Planned Parenthood, an action that would deny millions of women access to their trusted health care provider. The U.S. House Appropriations Committee voted to eliminate all funding for Title X, an action that would deny millions of women access to contraception and other vital health care services, including cancer screenings. Worse still, the physical assaults on clinics--ranging from vandalism and arson to the devastating shooting that occurred at the Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado Springs--are creating a climate of fear, one that may deter many women from visiting clinics for even preventative health care services, including contraception.

Because of this increasingly hostile atmosphere and the continued assaults on abortion rights, the United States slipped from a "C" last year to a "D+" for 2015. While the U.S. Senate foiled the attacks on Planned Parenthood and Title X, the reproductive health and rights of women remain under siege at the federal and state levels. Looking ahead there is both opportunity and peril. On the positive side, additional states in 2016 could elect to expand Medicaid eligibility under the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and the ACA's contraceptive coverage mandate could survive the latest batch of court challenges. In addition, the U.S. Supreme Court could strike down the Texas abortion restrictions as unconstitutional. On the other hand, efforts to defund Planned Parenthood could gain political momentum next year, denying millions of women access to a trusted health care provider and forcing more clinics to close. Women living poverty or in remote rural areas, in particular, could be severely affected. It is also possible that the U.S Supreme Court could uphold the Texas abortion restrictions and thereby encourage other states to infringe on the reproductive rights of women.

D+

THE UNITED STATES GETS A "D+"

THE UNITED STATES AS A WHOLE HAS BEEN GIVEN A GRADE OF D+. HERE'S WHY:

The general atmosphere

around reproductive health and rights has become extremely hostile across the U.S.

Congress has taken aim at eliminating Title X, defunding Planned Parenthood, and gutting teen pregnancy prevention programs.

The teen pregnancy rate, while at historic lows, is still higher than any other developed country.

America's rate of unintended

pregnancy remains stubbornly

high: almost half of all pregnancies

in the U.S. are unintended.

Family planning clinics are being forced to close due to funding cuts and burdensome

laws and regulations.

GRADING REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH AND RIGHTS

While most Americans are aware of the national political debate over birth control and abortion, many are unaware of the status of reproductive health and rights in their own state. In the interest of an informed public debate, the Population Institute, for the fourth year in a row, is releasing a report card that gives an overview of what's happening in the 50 States and the District of Columbia.

THE 50-STATE REPORT CARD

FOCUS

The 50-state report card focuses on four broad indicators or policies relating to reproductive health and rights:

EFFECTIVENESS

(30 points): Statewide, what percentage of pregnancies are unintended, and how high is the state's teenage pregnancy rate?

PREVENTION

(20 points): Does the state promote comprehensive sex education in the schools, and does it support access to emergency contraception in the emergency room?

AFFORDABILITY

(25 points): Does the state have policies designed to make birth control affordable to uninsured and lowincome individuals?

ACCESS

(25 points): Does the state impose harassing or burdensome requirements on those seeking family planning or abortion services?

CRITERIA AND SCORES

Nine criteria are used in determining a state's composite score. States with the best grades will have:

1 A low rate of teenage pregnancy

(15 points maximum)

2 A low rate of unintended pregnancy

(15 points maximum)

3 Comprehensive sex education in the schools

(15 points maximum)

4 Access to emergency contraception in the

emergency room (5 points maximum)

5 Medicaid expansion under the Affordable Care

Act (15 points maximum)

6 A Medicaid "waiver" expanding eligibility for

family planning services (10 points maximum)

7 An absence of burdensome abortion

restrictions (10 points maximum)

8 An absence of TRAP Laws (Targeted Regulation

of Abortion Providers) (5 points maximum)

9 County-level access to family planning and

abortion services (10 points maximum)

CORE GRADE

Each state is assigned a "core" grade based upon the following grading system:

A: 81-100 points

B: 66-80.9 points

C: 56-65.9 points

D: 46-55.9 points

F: < than 45.9 points

STATE

AL AK AZ AR CA CO CT DE DC FL GA HI ID IL IN IA KS

TOTAL SCORE

38.0 56.4 49.9 39.7 85.9 62.9 73.6 67.1 72.3 30.1 36.3 62.1 38.5 68.0 51.5 67.5 32.4

LETTER GRADE

F C DFA+ CB B B+ F F C FB DB F-

STATE

KY LA ME MD MA MI MN MS MO MT NE NV NH NJ NM NY NC

TOTAL SCORE

44.5 21.3 58.9 69.0 67.0 54.8 66.2 24.1 33.4 48.9 32.5 58.8 75.2 81.9 79.0 79.5 51.8

LETTER GRADE

F F C B B DB F F D+ F C B A B B D-

STATE

ND OH OK OR PA RI SC SD TN TX UT VT VA WA WV WI WY

TOTAL SCORE

44.7 58.5 30.4 90.1 59.2 69.0 53.7 30.3 28.9 33.6 44.5 75.1 39.6 82.9 56.5 47.3 37.5

LETTER GRADE

F C FA+ C B D F F FF B F A C DF

FINAL GRADE OVERVIEW

If there are noteworthy developments that are not reflected in the state's "core" grade, a state may be accorded a plus (+) or a minus (-), depending on how the changes are likely to impact reproductive health and rights

GRADES

A+ to A B to B C to C D to D F to F-

STATE BREAKDOWNS

For state press releases and state-by-state breakdowns of the scoring, more information can be obtained at reportcard

FOR MORE INFORMATION

About teenage pregnancy in the U.S., see About the rate of unintended pregnancies in the U.S, see About state abortion restrictions, see About State Medicaid Expansions, see About state Medicaid family planning waivers, see About sex education requirements at the state level, see

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We wish to express our deep appreciation to the Guttmacher Institute, the Kaiser Family Foundation, Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and other organizations working in this field for the research and reporting that made this report card possible.

107 2nd St, NE, Washington, DC 20002 I Phone: 202-544-3300 I

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