Prevention First Act: Facts
The Prevention First Act would accomplish the following: Establish a comprehensive sex education program to be implemented in Missouri schools. All course materials would have to be medically accurate and based on "peer-reviewed projects that have been demonstrated to influence healthy behavior." Curriculum would present abstinence as the preferred choice of sexual behavior, stress the seriousness of STIs and explain how they are trasmitted, and explain the health benefits of contraceptives in preventing pregnancy and reducing the risk of STI transmission. Programs would also provide information about the vaccine for human papilloma virus, they would encourage honest family communication, and they would focus on adolescent physical, biological, and hormonal changes. Parents would have the right to remove their children from any part of instruction. Establish a statewide protocol requiring hospitals to provide emergency contraception (EC, "morning-after pill") to all victims of rape and sexual assault in the emergency room. Hospitals would be required to provide all victims with medically accurate information about EC, orally inform the victim of her option to be provided EC in the hospital, provide the complete regimen of EC immediately, and follow protocols for HIV/STI screening and prophylactic treatment. Hospitals that fail to follow these guidelines will face monetary penalties. The Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services must also develop and distribute educational materials about emergency contraception to hospitals and medical personnel. These materials must be medically accurate, objective, and written in a culturally competent manner. Establish the "Birth Control Protection Act," which would prohibit any governmental entity from interfering with a person's right to access safe methods of birth control. Governmental agencies are also barred from discriminating against or establishing regulations that harm the facilities that provide birth control to consenting individuals. Create a women's health services program that would have the goal of reducing the number of unintended pregnancies in Missouri. This program would give funding for services such as breast and cervical cancer checks, HIV screening, family planning and contraception access, infertility treatment, pregnancy and parenting education, sexual and intimate partner violence education, and prenatal health care referrals. Establish statewide protocol demanding that pharmacists fill all valid, legally written prescriptions in a timely manner.
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