West PDX Today

WASHINGTON, DC [5/25/23] – Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR) introduced legislation to promote pregnancy intention screenings that help prevent unintended pregnancies and increase the likelihood of healthy pregnancies.

The Enhancing Questions to Understand Intentions for Pregnancy (EQUIP) Act would create a pilot program at the Centers for Disease Control to promote routine screening of people of child-bearing age by health care providers, who will ask about their pregnancy plans. Once the intention is identified, evidence-based initiatives would guide providers in offering care and advice.

Bonamici crafted this legislation based on successful initiatives like One Key Question®, a transformative approach to help health and social services providers start a conversation with patients about their pregnancy desires by routinely asking "Would you like to become pregnant in the next year?" Follow-up counseling is patient-centered and tailored appropriately based on a patient's desire to become pregnant, desire to avoid becoming pregnant, or ambivalence about pregnancy in the next year of their life. This question then results in patients receiving information about contraception or prenatal care, depending on the patient's unique situation. The model began in Oregon and is now being implemented in states across the country, with support from Power to Decide.

“The continued attacks on reproductive health care make it critical to foster and improve conversations between patients and health care professionals they can trust,” said Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici. “Asking a patient whether they intend to become pregnant in the next year is a commonsense way to promote healthy pregnancies and prevent unintended pregnancies. I’m leading the EQUIP Act to promote these conversations and put families on a path to long-term physical, financial, and mental health.”

“All people should have access to the information, services and support they need to make their own decisions when it comes to their sexual and reproductive health,” said Power to Decide CEO Raegan McDonald-Mosley, MD, MPH. “As a practicing OB-GYN, I know that the ability to plan pregnancies is directly linked to far-reaching benefits — not only healthier pregnancies, but also healthier children, families and communities. Long-standing racial and economic barriers have unjustly prevented too many people in communities of color, rural and historically marginalized communities from accessing quality and person-centered reproductive care.

“The EQUIP Act would address inequities by supporting and expanding efforts to ensure that all people have the power to decide for themselves if, when and under what circumstances to get pregnant and have a child,” McDonald-Mosley continued. “This bill would strengthen efforts to provide health care professionals and other social service providers with tools they can use to guide conversations with patients about their pregnancy desires to ensure patients get the counseling and care they need to reach their goals. Thanks to efforts by congressional leaders like Rep. Bonamici and our own work with the One Key Question framework, we understand the transformative power of having conversations about pregnancy desires in ways that respect patients and meet them where they are so they have the information and care they need to make their own decisions. We urge every member of Congress to support this important bill.”

A summary of the bill can be found here, and the bill text is available here.

The EQUIP Act is endorsed by: Power to Decide, American Nurses Association, National Council of Jewish Women, American College of Nurse-Midwives, National Latina Institute for Reproductive Justice, Association of Maternal & Child Health Programs, and Catholics for Choice.

Original source can be found here.