According
to the bill’s text, The Prevention First Act seeks to "to reduce unintended
pregnancy, reduce abortions, and improve access to women’s health care."
Senator Harry Reid (D-NV) and Representative Louise Slaughter (D-NY) first
introduced this bill in early 2007. It was reintroduced in the House and Senate
in January 2009 and is still pending. The bill’s provisions aim to improve
access to family planning and encourage the development of effective
state-level sex education initiatives. The guiding "common ground" theory is
this:

"Contraceptive
use can improve overall health by enabling women to plan and space their
pregnancies and has contributed to dramatic declines in maternal and infant
mortality. Widespread use of contraceptives has been the driving force in
reducing unintended pregnancies and sexually transmitted infections (STIs), and
reducing the need for abortion in this Nation."

 

Prevention
First Act would do the following:

• Increase
  the budget of Title X to $700,000,000.

• Mandate
  contraceptives coverage by health insurers that cover other forms of
  prescriptions.

• Develop
  and disseminate information on emergency contraception.

• Ensure
  that rape survivors are provided with medically accurate information about
  emergency contraception

• Extend
  Medicaid coverage of contraception to any woman who meets the income
  standards for pregnant women under Medicaid.

• Provide
  grants to states to conduct sex education programs that include
  information about both abstinence and contraception

 

Links:

• RH
  Reality Check Policy Watch: Prevention
  First
• NARAL
  Pro-Choice America summary of Prevention First

 

House
and Senate Versions of the Bill:

• H.R. 463
• S. 21