G-CAPP Policy and Advocacy News

G-CAPP Action Alert
Last week, House Bill 526 was introduced in the Georgia House of Representatives. The bill amends the state code regarding family planning services to require unemancipated minors (individuals who are under the age of 18 and unmarried) to be accompanied by a parent or guardian who can show proper identification in order to receive referral services or contraceptives from any state-funded public health department or agency.

The bill is sponsored by Rep. Barry Loudermilk (14th), Rep. Jeff Lewis (15th), Rep. Martin Scott (2nd), Rep. Sean Jerguson (22nd), Rep. Bobby Franklin (43rd) and Rep. James Mills (25th).

TAKE ACTION: Contact your legislators and the members of the House Health and Human Services Committee, where the bill has been referred, to voice your opposition to this extremely harmful bill that will have a devastating impact on teens and their ability to prevent unintended pregnancies.

The teen pregnancy rate has decline by 30% in the past decade in Georgia and nationwide, due to teenagers delaying sexual activity and using contraception more effectively when they do have sex, with the majority of the decline being attributable to improved use of contraception.

Surveys of teenagers in family planning clinics have found that half of adolescents report that a parent knows that they are at the clinic, demonstrating that many teens involve their parents in their health care decisions. Requiring parents to be present to request referrals or access to contraception at local health departments would be a significant barrier to other teenagers, though, who do not have family situations that would allow them to confide in their parents. Also, a recent study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that only 1% of adolescents visiting family planning clinics indicated they would stop having sex if parental involvement were mandatory for access to contraception.

2007 Georgia General Assembly Update

The 2007 legislative session of the Georgia General Assembly is now more than half way through the 40-day session. We will provide updates on a weekly basis during the session regarding bills and issues that affect adolescents and public health.

House Bill 429 (Rep. Sharon Cooper, 41st), the "Georgia HIV Pregnancy Screening Act of 2007", requires physicians and health care providers to test pregnant women for HIV and refer infected women to counseling and medical services. Women would have the option to refuse the HIV tests. Between 20 to 30 babies are born infected with HIV each year in Georgia, and treating infected pregnant women in their first trimesters can reduce the possibility of mother-to-child transmission of HIV to as low as 1 percent. The bill passed favorably out of the House Health and Human Services Committee.

SB 88 (Sen. Renee Unterman, 45th), the "Care of a Grandchild Act", provides grandparents caring for grandchildren the power to enroll the children in school, and authorize their medical, dental and mental health care. The bill also creates a grandchild caregiver subsidy for grandparents living at less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level. The bill has been assigned to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Track Legislation
For the latest updates on legislation, visit the General Assembly web site and search by the bill number in the top right hand corner of the page. You may also find information for contacting bill sponsors and other legislators on the General Assembly web site, or find your legislators here. To follow legislative issues that G-CAPP is working on, click here .

G-CAPP Fast Fact
A recent survey of teens who visit State Adolescent Health and Youth Development (AHYD) teen centers found that the centers are where they receive the majority of their reproductive health services.

Source: September 2006 edition of the "Georgia Epidemiology Report".