State In Need Of Health Clinics

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

Arkansas has the highest teenage birth rate in the nation. Under 50 percent of these teenage mothers graduate high school, and 80 percent of teenage fathers don’t marry the mother of their child.

The answer to this problem seems to be abstinence. However, a study conducted at Guttmacher Institute states that 71 percent of teens become sexually active by their 19th birthday. A more practical solution is better access to contraceptives. Making contraceptives more readily available would require more family clinics like Planned Parenthood, making these clinics schoolbased, and adding more contraceptive coverage in health care policies.

Clinics such as Planned Parenthood provide several reproductive health services, including sexually transmitted disease screening and the distribution of sliding-scale-cost contraceptives. Even with these clinics, some teenagers may still be unable to visit one.

School-based health clinics would increase the chances of a student making a visit.

Frequently, proper contraceptives are too expensive to afford.

Once the Affordable Care Act was put in place, the number of women receiving oral contraceptives increased from 15 percent to 40 percent, according to Guttmacher Institute.

Adding more coverage for contraceptives would only increase the percentages even more.

These factors should be highly considered when voters take to the polls in upcoming elections.

DELANEY HULSE

Fayetteville

Opinion, Pages 5 on 02/12/2014