State struggles in survey

A recent survey ranked each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia by its efforts to prevent unintended pregnancies. Indiana placed 49th, according to the Guttmacher Institute. \nSix million pregnancies occur among American women each year, according to the institute. Of those, half of them are unintended. In fact, the United States has one of the highest rates of unplanned pregnancy in the world.\nCynthia Dailard, leading author of the Guttmacher study, said there are many things Indiana is not doing to keep up with other states in preventing unintended pregnancies. The study looks at how each state performed in two different areas: laws and policies as well as service availability and public funding, she said. \nThe Guttmacher researchers found that only half of Indiana's counties have a family planning clinic -- well below the national average. \nIn addition, Indiana spends only $70 per "woman in need" per year, while the national average is $79. The study defined "woman in need" as both women younger than 20 who need contraceptive services and supplies, as well as women of ages 20 to 44 who need publicly funded contraceptive services and supplies and have a family income level that is below the federal poverty level. Some states are spending as much as $183 per woman in need, such as South Carolina. \nFinally, Indiana has not enacted proactive laws designed to facilitate access to family planning services for women. While 23 other states have required private insurance plans to cover contraceptives, Indiana has not done so. \n"Clearly, Indiana can do better," Dailard said. "Most other states -- many with equally strained budgets -- are spending more dollars per woman in need of contraceptives services on an annual basis than does Indiana."\nThat's not to say Indiana is doing nothing at all. The study showed Indiana's teenage pregnancy rate has declined by 22 percent between 1992 and 2000. Furthermore, funding has increased 200 percent from 1994 to 2001. In 2005, the state legislature directed the state to apply to the federal government for a waiver, so that Indiana could provide more women -- including those with higher incomes -- with family planning through Medicaid. \nHowever, of the money Indiana and the federal government spent on contraceptive services and supplies in Indiana in 2001, only 13 percent was allocated for that purpose by the state, according to the study. However, other states like South Carolina have allocated more than 30 percent of that total money to contraceptive services in 2001.\nThe blame for a high number of unplanned pregnancies is handed out to different groups, according to different people. Despite so many negative statistics, Indiana has many private organizations and agencies that do supplement state efforts to reduce the number of unplanned pregnancies.\nPlanned Parenthood is an agency with a mission statement of "providing, protecting and promoting reproductive health." Regarding planning pregnancy, it offers exams, birth control methods, emergency contraception and education in schools and other organizations.\nLeslie Montgomery, director of programs for Planned Parenthood in Indiana, said Indiana's high unplanned pregnancy rate is due, in part, to how Hoosiers talk about sex. \n"I would say it has more to do with the sexual literacy. People are not comfortable talking about sexuality, and therefore, a lot of parents don't talk to their kids," she said. "When parents don't talk to their kids, then kids will experiment."\nIndiana's Respect Campaign, which receives grants from the State Department of Health, is another private organization with a focus on educating students. The campaign teaches only abstinence in schools.\nLu Anne Hendricks, coordinator of the Respect Campaign for Brown County Schools, said her organization has found more students choose abstinence after being talked to about the consequences of pregnancy. She also believes in teaching only abstinence.\nAccording to a legislative document outlining Indiana education requirements, schools are required to "teach abstinence from sexual activity outside of marriage as the expected standard for all school age children."\n"If we're teaching what Indiana state law says, and then we go in and say, 'But this is what you do if you want to have sex,' that's a double-message to me," Hendricks said. "It's ultimately the parents' responsibility because they are the ones raising the child." \nDailard said seeking federal approval of the Medicaid family planning waiver, as directed last year by the Indiana state legislature, would be "an enormous step in the right direction."\nDailard said she believes the state has a responsibility, too. \n"It's a question of priorities," she said. "If Indiana wants to see fewer abortions and to help women and families, then the answer is devoting more dollars and resources designed to help couples avoid unintended pregnancies"