Power to Decide Supports Reintroduction of the Enhancing Questions to Understand Intentions for Pregnancy (EQUIP) Act

WASHINGTON — Yesterday, U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonamici will reintroduce the Enhancing Questions to Understand Intentions for Pregnancy (EQUIP) Act, a bill to improve reproductive well-being by funding Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) demonstration grants and evaluations of screening tools to determine a patient’s desire to become pregnant. Preliminary research into existing programs, such as One Key Question^®, a Power to Decide pregnancy desire screening tool, suggests they can help providers address unconscious bias and improve patient care.

Power to Decide CEO Raegan McDonald-Mosley, MD, MPH, issued the following statement in response:

“All people should have access to the information, services and support they need to make their own decisions when it comes to their sexual and reproductive health. As a practicing OB-GYN, I know that the ability to plan pregnancies is directly linked to far-reaching benefits — not only healthier pregnancies, but also healthier children, families and communities. Long-standing racial and economic barriers have unjustly prevented too many people in communities of color, rural and historically marginalized communities from accessing quality and person-centered reproductive care. 

“The EQUIP Act would address inequities by supporting and expanding efforts to ensure that all people have the power to decide for themselves if, when and under what circumstances to get pregnant and have a child. This bill would strengthen efforts to provide health care professionals and other social service providers with tools they can use to guide conversations with patients about their pregnancy desires to ensure patients get the counseling and care they need to reach their goals.

“Thanks to efforts by congressional leaders like Rep. Bonamici and our own work with the One Key Question framework, we understand the transformative power of having conversations about pregnancy desires in ways that respect patients and meet them where they are so they have the information and care they need to make their own decisions. We urge every member of Congress to support this important bill.”

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Power to Decide is a private, non-partisan, non-profit organization that works to ensure all people—no matter who they are, where they live, or what their economic status might be—have the power to decide if, when and under what circumstances to get pregnant or have a child.