SENATE JOINT MEMORIAL 23

49th legislature - STATE OF NEW MEXICO - first session, 2009

INTRODUCED BY

Eric G. Griego

A JOINT MEMORIAL

REQUESTING THAT THE NEW MEXICO HEALTH POLICY COMMISSION, IN COORDINATION WITH THE HUMAN SERVICES DEPARTMENT AND THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND OTHER ORGANIZATIONS, FORM AN ADVISORY PANEL TO ADDRESS THE ISSUE OF UNINTENDED PREGNANCY IN NEW MEXICO AND OFFER POLICY RECOMMENDATIONS TO REDUCE THE NUMBERS OF UNPLANNED PREGNANCIES.

     WHEREAS, the legislature finds that the rate of unintended pregnancies in New Mexico warrants careful, creative and competent consideration in order to find evidence-based and science-based solutions to preventing and reducing the numbers of unintended pregnancies; and

     WHEREAS, the legislature acknowledges the steady number of reports indicating that New Mexico's birth rate for teen mothers is among the highest in the country and as much as one and one-half times the national average and that the number of young women having babies affects the poverty rate in New Mexico; and

     WHEREAS, the legislature finds that young parents often struggle to find daycare and flexible jobs that accommodate the unexpected schedules of their children; that teen mothers are more likely to be single parents; that women generally earn less than men throughout New Mexico; and that young parents often cut short their education and may find it difficult to provide for their families without public assistance; and

     WHEREAS, the legislature finds that, as reported by New Mexico voices for children:

          A. poverty rates are twice as high among women in New Mexico who had their first child as teenagers than among women who had their first child at age twenty or older;

          B. forty-five percent of Hispanic women who had their first child as teenagers are raising their children in poverty; and

          C. approximately forty-eight percent of New Mexico teenagers who live with their own minor children live in poverty; and

     WHEREAS, according to the national campaign to prevent teen and unplanned pregnancy, two-thirds of teen mothers do not receive a high school diploma and only one and one-half percent have a college degree by age thirty; and

      WHEREAS, the legislature recognizes that New Mexico's high teen birth rates also reflect the high percentage of teen mothers who have more than one child while they are still in their teens; and

     WHEREAS, the legislature recognizes the urgency of reports that unintended pregnancies are especially prevalent among financially disadvantaged women and girls; that forty percent of the women in New Mexico are Hispanic while seventy-one percent of births to mothers aged fifteen to seventeen are to Hispanic women; and that since New Mexico is among the poorest states in the country, it is likely to have concentrations of poor women; and

     WHEREAS, the legislature acknowledges that the economic cost to taxpayers and the financial strain on families of unplanned pregnancy is substantial and much higher in New Mexico than in other parts of the United States and other developed nations;

     NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF NEW MEXICO that the New Mexico health policy commission be urged to create and convene an unintended pregnancy advisory panel charged with making recommendations to the legislature and the governor for a comprehensive plan to reduce unintentional pregnancies based on evidence- and science-based solutions for the prevention and reduction of unplanned pregnancies; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the advisory panel be composed of experts from the human services department and department of health; public and behavioral health care providers; school-based health professionals; legal and policy experts; and community representatives; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the unintended pregnancy advisory panel study and review New Mexico-specific data on unintended pregnancies compared with national statistics and analyze the availability of family planning services, education and information throughout New Mexico, including an analysis of the availability of private insurance and public benefits programs to provide family planning services and information and to make recommendations regarding how to maximize federal funding streams for those services, and how to ensure access to such services in rural and underserved communities; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the unintended pregnancy advisory panel recommend to the legislature a comprehensive strategic plan for reducing and preventing the number of unplanned pregnancies in New Mexico and undertake other activities and make other recommendations related to the reduction and prevention of unintended pregnancies; and

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the unintended pregnancy advisory panel make an interim report of its findings to the second session of the forty-ninth legislature and issue a final report of its recommendations by October 1, 2010 for consideration in the first session of the fiftieth legislature; and 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that copies of this memorial be transmitted to the secretary of health, the secretary of human services and the New Mexico health policy commission.

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