| Nearly 1/2 of all unintended pregnancies occur among women using a contraceptive method. |
| To ensure reproductive health care remains accessible for Wisconsin patients. |
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|  | | When Health Professionals Speak Out, People Listen!
- You have a unique voice as medical experts
- Your voices are a critical advocacy tool to advance the issue of access to comprehensive reproductive health care services for their patients and their community at large.
In an October 2005 statewide poll, respondents saw health professionals (doctors - 86% and nurses - 84%) as the “most trustworthy messengers” of information related to women’s reproductive health.
The July 6, 2006 Perspective column in the New England Journal of Medicine highlighted the need for physicians to act as patient advocates to improve health care access (particularly access to emergency contraception and birth control).
As a health care professional, you have an important role in health care policymaking. Your knowledge and expertise can be used in a number of ways including:
- Educating legislators and their staff members
- Educating your colleagues and patients on issue affecting them
- Encouraging your professional organization to take a position on issues
- Providing oral or written testimony, at hearings or other public forums
- Writing or calling legislators before a specific vote
- Following up when information is requested from you
- Thanking legislators who vote in a manner with which you agree |
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| | | | Take a moment to send a message to your legislative representatives regarding a reproductive health policy important to you and your patients! |
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