The Oregon Legislature’s slash-and-burn budget-balancing strategy may have a drastic impact on a program that has helped thousands of Oregon residents, including many University students, avoid unwanted pregnancies. Local health organizations such as Planned Parenthood and the Oregon National Abortion and Reproductive Rights Action League are lobbying the state Legislature to continue the Oregon Family Planning Expansion Project, a program that offers free contraceptive and health services to applicants who qualify.
Planned Parenthood Executive Director Bill Sheppard said FPEP will run until the end of 2003, but further continuation of the project will depend on the outcome of renewal procedures in May. The project, part of a federal Medicaid waiverÎents. Planned Parenthood estimates that more than $55 million in state and federal funds have been saved because of the program.
Sheppard said Oregon was one of the first states to implement the Medicaid waiver to assist with family planning services. He said because of FPEP’s success in preventing unwanted pregnancies, Planned Parenthood is optimistic about the program’s survival.
Since FPEP began, it has served more than 138,000 Oregon residents. Planned Parenthood estimates that more than $55 million in state and federal funds have been saved because of the program.
A second part of the movement to continue FPEP includes convincing the state government to do its part. For every $9 the federal government spends on FPEP, the Oregon Legislature chips in an extra $1. But Sheppard said in light of the state’s budget crisis and recent cuts to health care and other services in Oregon, it is difficult to predict whether FPEP will receive the funding it needs to continue.
University Health Center Business Manager Daralyn DeHaven-Murdoch said since July 2000, the Health Center has been able to bill more than 20,500 visits under FPEP, and more than 7,131 students have been eligible for the FPEP waiver. She added that even if FPEP fails to acquire adequate funding, there will not be a loss of service to students.
“The Health Center will still provide the same family-planning services, but we won’t be able to cover the costs,” DeHaven-Murdoch said. “Students will have to pay out of pocket unless something else comes along.”
FPEP not only provides free contraceptive supplies, such as birth control pills and condoms, but also gynecological exams, pregnancy testing, infection screening and contraceptive counseling.
The program’s services and benefits aren’t just for women. One of FPEP’s goals is to encourage men to also become involved in family planning and seek out services from clinics. DeHaven-Murdoch said men can receive free condoms, contraceptive management and visits for specific infections.
Caroline Fitchett, executive director of NARAL, said the organization is also involved, along with Planned Parenthood, in keeping the project alive.
“FPEP will actually save the state money by incredibly reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies,” Fitchett said.
NARAL works through grassroots lobbying of state legislatures to protect reproductive rights for women. Fitchett said she is worried that recent legislative movements, such as the Partial-Birth Abortion Ban Act, that have been passed by the Senate and are now being considered in the House, may indicate a targeting of programs such as FPEP.