Power to Decide

This grant would renew general operating support to the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy (the National Campaign), the lead grantee for the Global Development and Population Program’s Special Initiative to Reduce the Need for Abortion. The National Campaign works to raise awareness of the consequences of teen and unplanned pregnancy and offer a range of activities, often through partnerships with other organizations, aimed at reducing teen and unplanned pregnancies. The National Campaign focuses particularly on reducing unplanned pregnancy among adults in their twenties because women over age twenty account for eighty percent of abortions and unplanned pregnancies in the United States. The National Campaign will focus on four areas: (1) improving key policies in both the private and public sectors in order to increase access to the most effective contraceptive methods and expand effective programs (for example, making contraception free through Medicaid in more states); (2) increasing the ability and motivation of individuals to behave responsibly with regard to pregnancy planning and prevention (with a focus on both entertainment media such as MTV’s popular program, 16 and Pregnant, and digital media such as Bedsider.org); (3) conducting special outreach to high-risk groups including Latino teens, foster care youth, and community college students; and (4) supporting these program activities with strong research and communications activities.