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NEWS FROM POWER TO DECIDE
Raise Your Voice with Decision Makers
Visit our action page to see what you can do to effect change on a larger scale by talking to decision makers at the local, state, and national levels. Speak up today!
Our Newest Power Player
We’re committed to uplifting the many individuals championing reproductive well-being. This month’s Power Player is Dr. Nakeitra L. Burse, CEO, Six Dimensions. Read her story.
New Paper Published on Our Human-Centered Design Work
From 2015 to 2021, the US Department of Health and Human Services’ Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) program funded Power to Decide to catalyze innovation in adolescent sexual and reproductive health through the development of technology-based interventions. Our initiative, Innovation Next, supported twenty innovation teams in using human-centered design to develop new products, services, and programs.
Catalyzing Technology-Based Innovation in Teen Pregnancy Prevention: an Implementation Model and Findings from a Human-Centered Design Initiative, a new article co-authored by Power to Decide staff, describes the Innovation Next implementation model, which can inform future efforts to develop innovative, technology-based TPP programs using human-centered design.
Join Our Team
We’re looking for a Senior Data Manager who will work to refine, maintain, expand, and ensure the integrity of our database of reproductive health services. The Senior Manager will be part of the team that supports AbortionFinder.org and the Bedsider.org clinic finder, including the supervision of a small team of fellows who conduct data collection. Read more about the position and apply today to join our team.
FDA Approved Over-the-Counter Birth Control Pill
On July 13, the FDA approved the progestin-only birth control pill, Opill, for over-the-counter (OTC) access without an age restriction. In a time when so much of the news about reproductive health has involved attacks on access, this is a welcome update that will greatly increase access to birth control for those who need it.
So, what does this mean practically? Read our blog on the 5 most common questions we’ve heard about OTC birth control and then check out what the data says about young people’s views of OTC access.
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POLICY UPDATES
Senate Appropriations Committee Proposes Flat Funding for Key Programs
At the end of July, the Senate Appropriations Committee passed a bipartisan version of a bill to fund the Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies (LHHS) for fiscal year (FY) 2024. The bill would allocate $286.5 million for the Title X Family Planning Program and $101 million for the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program. The bill does not increase funding for these critically important programs at a time when reproductive health care is harder to access than ever. The bill also includes the Hyde Amendment, which prohibits federal Medicaid from covering abortion care.
Even more disappointing is that earlier in the month the House Appropriations LHHS Subcommittee advanced a spending bill, which proposed the elimination of the Title X and TPP Programs and would add various policy riders that would harm vulnerable communities. Read Power to Decide’s statement to learn more.
Members of Congress are on August recess. They will need to finalize funding for FY 24 before the end of the current fiscal year on September 30. You can help ensure that these important programs receive the funding they need by contacting your representatives and urging them to make family planning and sexual health education a priority.
State Abortion Law Updates in Florida, Indiana, and Iowa
As of August 1, there are no clinics providing abortion in 14 states. Major updates on legal challenges in Florida, Iowa, and Indiana are presented below. As always, you can visit AbortionFinder’s State-by-State guide for the latest updates in your state.
Florida’s Supreme Court scheduled oral arguments in Planned Parenthood of Southwest and Central Florida, et al. v State of Florida for Friday, September 8 at 9:00am. Although this case is a challenge to the 15-week abortion ban that went into effect in July 2022, Florida enacted a law in April 2023 banning abortion at around six weeks. The new law purports to go into effect if the Florida Supreme Court upholds the constitutionality of the 15-week ban.
On July 17, an Iowa judge temporarily blocked the state’s recently passed law, which bans abortion at approximately six weeks, from going into effect while the legal challenge proceeds. The news came nearly a month after the Iowa Supreme Court deadlocked on a decision to reinstate a similar ban that the Iowa legislature passed in 2018 but was blocked by a Polk County District Court.
On July 31, the ACLU of Indiana filed a petition for rehearing that temporarily stopped the state’s total abortion ban from taking effect on August 1. In August 2022, Indiana was the first state to pass an abortion ban after the Dobbs decision that overturned Roe v Wade. A narrower injunction also remains in place in another lawsuit that argues the state’s abortion ban infringes on the plaintiffs’ religious freedom, but there is some confusion about its application.
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GENEROUS SUPPORT FROM OUR COMMUNITY
A year ago, the Supreme Court issued the Dobbs decision, which rolled back generations of reproductive rights and exponentially increased the existing gaps in reproductive and sexual health care. Attempts to eliminate access to essential care have only increased since then. That’s one reason why we need the funds to help continue to provide information and resources so desperately needed by millions.
At Power to Decide, we believe in a world where everyone — no matter who they are or where they live — can decide if, when, and under what circumstances to get pregnant and have a child.
Support our mission with a gift today.
Your gift will help us fund initiatives such as AbortionFinder and Bedsider, as well as our policy work, which continues to become even more critical.
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