RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, unintended pregnancies are a major public health concern affecting individuals and society in general; and

WHEREAS, each year, about three million five hundred thousand unintended pregnancies occur in this country, half of which result from contraceptive failure or inadequate contraceptive technique;

WHEREAS, according to the Department of Health's Office of Health Status Monitoring, in 2000, fifty-three per cent of pregnancies were unintended for women of all ages in Hawaii and seventy-eight per cent were unintended among women under twenty years of age; and

WHEREAS, emergency contraception is a highly cost-effective method of reducing unintended pregnancies, if taken within seventy-two hours after unprotected sex; and

WHEREAS, however, in a statewide study conducted in early January of 2002, the Healthy Mothers, Healthy Babies Coalition of Hawaii learned that there are significant barriers to accessing emergency contraceptives in Hawaii within the recommended seventy-two-hour time frame;

WHEREAS, this problem has been rectified by the passage and enactment of Act 201, Session Laws of Hawaii 2003, which essentially made emergency contraception available over-the-counter; and

WHEREAS, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, American Academy of Pediatricians, American Public Health Association, and more than fifty other national organizations support this increased access to emergency contraception;

WHEREAS, however, the Legislature finds that, although emergency contraception is now generally available after adoption of rules to implement Act 201, women need to know of its availability and where to get it in order for the initiative to be successful; and

WHEREAS, merely depending on pharmacies, clinics, and family planning groups to take on this statewide burden is an inadequate approach; and

WHEREAS, a productive Emergency Contraception Interagency Work Group with representatives from the public and private sectors has met regularly for over three years and has outlined priorities to promote emergency contraception awareness, increase utilization of emergency contraception, and monitor the impact of the emergency contraception program; now therefore

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Director of Health is requested to provide any necessary administrative support to the Emergency Contraception Interagency Work Group; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Legislature requests representatives from the following agencies to participate in the Emergency Contraception Interagency Work Group:

(1) Department of Education;

(2) Department of Human Services;

(3) University of Hawaii;

(4) Board of Medical Examiners;

(5) Board of Pharmacy;

(6) Board of Nursing;

(7) Each county administration; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Emergency Contraception Interagency Work Group is requested to develop a mechanism to effectively disseminate information on the availability of over-the-counter emergency contraception in the State. The work group is further requested to make use of any available resource, including physicians, nurses, clinics, pharmacies, drug manufacturers, distributors, or agents, and interested members of the public to develop the information dissemination mechanism; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Director of Health is requested to convene the work group no later than thirty days after the adoption of this Concurrent Resolution and to submit a report to the Governor and the Legislature on the information dissemination mechanism no later than December 31, 2005; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Board of Regents of the University of Hawaii, the Chairperson of the Board of Education, the Superintendent of Education, the Director of Human Services, the mayor of each county, and the Director of Health, who in turn is requested to transmit copies to all other interested parties.

Report Title:

Emergency Contraception; Information Dissemination