Women currently account for 51% of the overall U.S. population, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. To be precise, there were 154,135,120 women and 149,924,604 men in the United States in 2008. We also know that women, more often than not, are responsible for making decisions about their families' health care.

While I think it would be hard to make the leap that 51 percent of the programs and benefits of health reform should be directly targeted toward women, it's not a stretch to argue that health reform should address the health care needs of women and their families. That includes pregnancy planning and prevention.

Unplanned pregnancies are closely linked to a number of negative health, social, and economic consequences. Family planning services--counseling, gynecological care and screenings, prescription drugs and devices, and related outpatient services--are a cost-effective way to make progress on preventing unplanned pregnancy and improving health outcomes for women and families. As such, family planning should be classified as a preventive benefit with the same cost-sharing protections afforded to other designated preventive benefits in any essential benefit package that is created within the context of health reform.

For health reform to work, it has to be meaningful for everyone, including 51 percent of the U.S. population.

Last Friday the New York Times published an article focusing on the potential health concerns of using two popular oral contraceptives, Yaz and Yasmin. While this information is certainly important and the risks of serious side effects including blood clots and stroke should absolutely be considered when thinking about what type of contraception to use, the article failed to discuss the risk of health issues during pregnancy. Studies have found that 4 to 5 per 100,000 reproductive age women who are not taking birth control pills will develop thrombosis. Among women taking low-dose birth control pills that risk increases to 12 to 20 per 100,000. Among pregnant women the risk is even higher--48 to 60 per 100,000. So when we hear about the increased risks of serious side effects such as blood clots and strokes we need to ask ourselves: "Compared to what?"

In addition to providing us with the scary news, I wish there were more articles about the women, men and families who are thankful for reliable birth control methods such as the pill. A recent report from the Guttmacher Institute found that nearly half of women reported that they wanted to reduce or delay their childbearing because of economic concerns--clearly family planning is as important as ever.

There are lots of other great methods of birth control available, but like anything in life there are trade-offs for each one, and we all have to find the one that fits us best (check out our Birth Control 101 page for more information). While most methods have side effects (and these should be discussed with your doctor), consider the potential alternative--an unplanned pregnancy.

Why do we expect so much more from our birth control pills than from other medications we take?

Community colleges are known to some as the red-headed step-child of higher education. NBC is even playing the association to its advantage with its new series coming this fall, Community. But the fact is that community colleges have played a critical role in the U.S., serving 11.5 million students and almost half of all undergrads across the country.

Although community colleges are seeing an increase in student enrollment, that doesn't necessarily mean there's an increase in the graduation rate. As David Brooks notes in his recent op-ed, No Size Fits All, about half of community college students fail to earn a degree. Recognizing the important role that student services play in students' success, last week President Obama announced the American Graduation Initiative, which gives schools the funding they need to offer their students "wrap-around services."

RH Reality Check today launches a new section devoted to the ongoing search for common ground on abortion and related issues. The On Common Ground section will be moderated by author, commentator, and all-around good egg Cristina Page. Cristina has long been a keen observer and chronicler of the ongoing culture wars over abortion and various efforts to reach common ground.

National Campaign CEO Sarah Brown will be a regular contributor to the Common Ground site along with others including the very thoughtful Rachel Laser of Third Way.

Read Sarah's initial contribution to the common ground discussion and marvel as I did as she seamlessly weaves together a narrative involving Barbie dolls, Cleopatra, family planning, and common ground.

The 2009 NFPRHA Conference wrapped up with several excellent workshops and presentations yesterday. In a particularly impassioned workshop presentation, Linda Dominguez reminded us that no decision is more important than helping a couple plan when they want to have children, and that making a contraceptive choice can be one of the most important decisions women (and their partners) make. She went on to point out that whatever kind of contraception that a woman chooses at a particular point in time should fit in with her reproductive life plan (do you have a reproductive life plan: how many kids do you want to have? When do you want to have them? With whom? Has a provider ever asked about your plan?).

The goal is to have women and men embrace their contraceptive method, and help them to be satisfied with the method they have selected (or help them find another method that might work better for them).

• How can we work to dispel the myths around contraceptive methods and talk more about the fantastic health benefits that are associated with some methods?

• More than one-third of women report that they are using a method of contraception that they don't like - how can we reach these women and help them find a method that they do like?

• The next question is, how can we help women and men use the method they have selected as effectively as possible?

A presentation by Hieke Thiel de Bocanegra of UCSF's Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health offered one innovative way to tackle this second question. A pilot project she is leading (full disclosure: funded by the National Campaign) uses text messaging to remind women that it's time to fill their prescription (e.g., if on the NuvaRing) or visit the clinic for a follow-up appointment (e.g., if they need a Depo shot). The project aims include determining 1) the feasibility of this type of reminder system; 2) the acceptability and usage of this system by providers and clients; and 3) the system's effectiveness. More on this to come as the project progresses...

The National Family Planning & Reproductive Health Association (NFPRHA) is holding their 2009 National Conference from April 26-29 (halfway over, in other words!) in Bethesda, MD, and we direct many thanks to NFPRHA for including us among the bloggers invited to attend the conference.

The theme of this year's conference is Empowering the Majority: Expanding Access to Family Planning, and based on the sessions I attended today, the title's a great fit. The sessions I sat in on spanned coalition advocacy, contraception, and outreach to hard-to-reach populations, and each delivered practical solutions for maximizing quality of and access to family planning services. A few highlights:

• Yamelsie Rodriguez, Regional Director of Clinical Operations for Planned Parenthood of Illinois shared some very basic but unfortunately not-always-obvious tips for providing family planning services to Latinos (eg. recruit Spanish-speaking volunteers to help with paperwork and provide appointment confirmation in Spanish).

• Nurse Practioner Susan Wysocki offered a fact and fiction information session on Intrauterine contraception (IUC) including tips for maximizing communication with patients.

• Jackie Kendall of Midwest Academy highlighted the distinction between strategy and tactics in coalition building and emphasized the importance of creating a strategy that builds upon the strengths of the organizations involved and incorporates a variety of tactics drawing upon those strengths.

For more information on the conference visit NFPRHA's website (click here to view the events schedule). You can also check out feministing.com's blog post on today's opening panel, or you can follow the conference on Twitter under the hashtag #nfprhacon.

Stay tuned...

In a real life example of putting your money where your mouth is, the Colorado legislature passed and Governor Ritter signed into law a bill that would expand Medicaid to cover an additional 100,000 uninsured individuals in the state. Pending approval from the federal government, the state would impose a fee on hospitals to raise the necessary funds, which the federal government would then match, to cover the cost.

Why are we so concerned about what our friends in the Wild West are doing, you ask? Because Medicaid is by far the largest source of funding for family planning services in the United States--it accounted for fully 71 percent of all state and federal spending on family planning in 2006--and these publicly funded services are critical to our ability to reduce this nation's stubbornly high rates of unplanned pregnancy. Expanding access to family planning means better maternal and child health outcomes, significant savings for taxpayers and government alike, and reducing the need for abortion by preventing unintended pregnancy. But I'm preaching to the choir (and if not, here's a cheat sheet).

Read more about our love affair with Medicaid here.

When President Obama rolled out his budget blueprint yesterday, he said "we are making a historic commitment to comprehensive health care reform. It's a step that will not only make families healthier and companies more competitive, but over the long term it will also help us bring down our deficit."

We hope this critically important effort will include helping people plan for healthy pregnancies and avoid unplanned pregnancies (of which there are 3 million each year). There is abundant evidence that doing so will improve the health and well-being of children and families. And, study after study shows that it will also save money--for taxpayers and employers.

Should be a no brainer, right? Well, yes, but first our leaders need to get over two things: the fear factor and the joke factor. Family planning is more than mainstream: 98% of sexually active women use some form of family planning. It is a key part of women's lives and health. Consider this: the typical American woman spends five years pregnant or trying to become pregnant and three decades trying to avoid pregnancy.

And, it has broad public support: 88% of voters support women's access to contraception. In fact, a recent poll by Public Strategies Inc. found that 72% of Republicans and Independents favor legislation that would make it easier for people at all income levels to obtain contraception.  The American people get this and the President does too, which is why his budget takes an important step to help more states provide family planning through Medicaid.

So, enough of the talk show jokes and smirks. Let's get serious and help do something that is common sense, promotes responsibility, improves health, and saves money.