During the presidential campaign, Barack Obama said he would "work to reduce unintended pregnancy by guaranteeing equity in contraceptive coverage, providing sex education and offering rape victims accurate information about emergency contraception."
 
The administration has done a number of things to reduce unintended pregnancy, advocates say, though not necessarily by the specific methods outlined in the promise.
 
Most notably, the administration's fiscal year 2010 budget request provides $178 million for teen pregnancy prevention programs. The administration requires that funding be used for "evidence-based" and other promising models -- a clear shot at the preference during the prior administration for abstinence-based models. Indeed, the budget eliminated $95 million in funding for Community-Based Abstinence Education and $50 million for mandatory Title V abstinence education grants to states.
 
The largest share of the teen pregnancy money comes from a $110 million competitive grant program under the Department of Health and Human Services' Administration for Children and Families. Of this sum, "at least $75 million will be used to fund grants for programs to replicate curriculum-based models that have been shown through strong evaluation ... to be effective in reducing teen pregnancy, delaying sexual activity, or improving contraception use (without increasing sexual activity) [and] at least $25 million will be used to fund grants for demonstration programs to develop, replicate, refine, and test additional models and innovative strategies for preventing teen pregnancy."
 
This language survived when both chambers of Congress passed an omnibus appropriations bill to fund HHS, and the president is expected to sign the bill.
 
In addition, the president's budget included a $10 million increase for Title X, a program that offers family planning services, including counseling and contraception. "Title X has a direct impact on reducing unplanned pregnancy by providing approximately five million low-income and uninsured individuals with access to high-quality contraceptive services, preventive screening, and health education," said Jessica D. Swafford, assistant director of public policy for the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy. This provision was also included in the omnibus bill that the president is expected to sign.
 
Meanwhile, both the House and Senate health care reform have language that would let states opt to expand eligibility for Medicaid family planning services to low-income individuals who do not qualify under current rules.
 
Finally, Swafford said, the White House's Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, the White House Council on Women and Girls and the Domestic Policy Council have reached out to "a wide range of organizations" to discuss ways to reduce teen pregnancy.
 
Swafford added that the administration has not focused on contraceptive equity or offering rape victims information about emergency contraception, two specific goals mentioned in Obama's promised. But it has done quite a few things to advance the more general policy goal of reducing unplanned pregnancies. So we rate this promise In the Works.