New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg (R) on Thursday at a NARAL Pro-Choice New York meeting announced a $3 million initiative to reduce the number of unintended pregnancies in the city through expanded access to emergency contraception and family planning services and improve maternal and infant outcomes, the Long Island Newsday reports (Thrush, Long Island Newsday, 4/21). Under the Healthy Women/Healthy Babies Initiative, the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene will spend $1 million on the Emergency Contraception Education and Outreach Campaign to increase awareness of emergency contraception, which can prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of unprotected intercourse (Slackman, New York Times, 4/22). Under the measure, DOHMH officials will visit pharmacists in neighborhoods with high rates of unintended pregnancy to educate them about EC and encourage them to stock Plan B, provide information about the pills to their patients and display information about EC in their pharmacies, according to a Bloomberg release. In addition, New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation facilities will begin offering advance prescriptions for EC to women of childbearing age to ensure that they have access to the pills even when doctors' offices are closed (Bloomberg release, 4/21). The prescriptions can be filled immediately or weeks later and are available for no charge at DOHMH clinics for sexually transmitted diseases, according to the New York Post (Seifman, New York Post, 4/22). DOHMH also has produced brochures and palm cards about EC and other birth control options in English, Spanish and Chinese. The funding also will allow DOHMH to print additional materials and expand the materials' reach, according to the release.

Other Efforts
Under the initiative, DOHMH outreach specialists will conduct one-on-one visits with primary care providers in neighborhoods with high rates of unintended pregnancy and provide tools, resources and materials about EC and other birth control options for providers and patients. DOHMH also will expand the Nurse Family Partnership program, which it has piloted in neighborhoods in Queens, Central Harlem and Central Brooklyn. The nurse home visiting program, which aims to improve maternal and child health outcomes by providing in-home education beginning during pregnancy and continuing through a child's second birthday, this year will be implemented among 100 families in the South Bronx.

Bloomberg Comments
When introducing the measure, Bloomberg said, "Unintended pregnancies can be prevented. Through education and outreach, we can increase access to emergency contraception, reduce the number of abortions and improve the lives of thousands of New York's women." He added, "Protecting the health of women goes beyond a commitment to choice and the right of women to control their own bodies. It means tackling the complex issues of reproductive health, so that all women, rich or poor, can have access to the latest advances in birth control and can make healthy and informed decisions" (Bloomberg release, 4/21).

Award
Bloomberg announced the new initiative after receiving NARAL Pro-Choice New York's "2005 Champion of Choice" award for his leadership in the field of reproductive rights, the Times reports. The organization honored Bloomberg for his 2001 creation of a program that made abortion training available to physicians in city hospitals. "He has stepped into the fray, sided with science and women's health and is pushing a program that will directly reduce the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions in our city," NARAL Pro-Choice New York Deputy Director Robert Jaffee said (New York Times, 4/22). "At a time when some politicians are making it harder for women to obtain birth control, Mayor Bloomberg is launching a pioneering program that will lead to substantial reductions in the number of unintended pregnancies and abortions," NARAL Pro-Choice New York Executive Director Kelli Conlin said, adding, "The health needs of women come first for Mayor Bloomberg. His vision and leadership makes New York City a national leader in combating our nation's excessively high unintended pregnancy rate" (NARAL Pro-Choice New York release, 4/21).