| Teen childbearing costs US taxpayers $7 billion each year in direct costs associated with health care, foster care, criminal justice and public assistance. |
Advance comprehensive women's health in Wisconsin by engaging, educating,
empowering and mobilizing individuals and organizations. |
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|  | Volunteer Health Care Provider Program Expansion (AB 829) |
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| The Voluntary Health Care Provider program governed by Wis. Stat. § 146.89 allows health care professionals to volunteer with non-profit agencies and provide certain medical services to individuals who would otherwise go without crucial health care services. AB 829 would expand this program to allow medical volunteers to provide services in schools for students from 4 year-old kindergarten to sixth grade. This expansion would allow volunteer health care professionals to provide young people with diagnostic services, health education, office visits, patient advocacy, referrals to certain health care specialists, treatment for injury or illness, certain over-the-counter medications, health screenings or other health care services deemed appropriate by the Department of Public Instruction. In addition, providers may also provide limited instruction in human growth and development under the bill.
While this bill certainly takes important steps to provide school-aged children with crucial health care, it also takes pains to regulate what voluntary health care providers can and cannot say under the program. This bill effectively prohibits health care providers from answering young people’s questions about puberty and human growth and development and any other topic related human sexuality issues and reproduction, even if such instruction has been approved by the school board in their area. |
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| | To further improve this bill, an amendment is being introduced to strike a “gag” provision which prohibits voluntary health care providers from presenting human growth and development instruction on any matter pertaining to human sexuality or reproduction, even if such instruction is age-appropriate and consistent with the participating school’s human growth and development curriculum. |
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