Prevention First Petition

For several years one of HAPA's action initiatives was collecting signatures of Hoosiers who are supportive of prevention legislation. Following is information about the initiative:

During the past three decades Indiana state legislators have proposed over 140 bills that would restrict access to reproductive health services while less than a dozen have been proposed that would help people prevent unintended pregnancy.

Access to family planning services and sexuality education can help increase the quality of life for all Hoosiers. Let's tell our elected officials we want them to support real solutions for the women and men of Indiana! Tell them to support Prevention First!

Here are the four key parts of Indiana's Prevention First legislation:

• Birth Control Protection—Hoosiers should have the right to obtain and use safe and effective methods of birth control without governmental interference, and further recognizes that contraceptives do not constitute abortion.
• Patient Protection—Pharmacies must ensure that a patient's prescription be filled, or find and refer the patient to another pharmacy which will fill the rpescription.
• Parents' Right to Know—Every Indiana high school and middle school which receives state funding must notify each students' parents in writing exactly what subjects are —and are not—being taught regarding sexuality education.
• Medically Accurate Requirement—Any recipient of state funding that provides information or offers programs regarding sex, family planning, pregnancy counseling, or sexually transmitted diseases shall provide medically accurate, factual information that is age-appaorpirate and that includes information on both abstinence and contraception for the prevention of pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases, inclduing HIV/AIDS.

The need to continue working for these reasonable, common sense policies continues. The "Prevention Now" approach will help prevent unintended pregnancies, reduce the number of abortions, preserve individual freedoms, and improve Hoosier health.