Press Room

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 21, 2005

Contact: Marc Tuttle, Communications Director, (262) 408-0506
or Peggy Hamill, State Director, (414) 416-0489

Medicaid Family Planning Demonstration Project Places Wisconsin Teens at Risk

The recent lawsuit filed on behalf of Alycia Brown, the 14-year-old LaCrosse, WI native who died last year from serious side effects after using a popular birth control patch illustrates problems with birth control that go way beyond the deadly nature of one particular device.

“People are so afraid of bearing ‘unplanned’ children in our society that they are willing to risk death. Not only are these drugs often lethal for a developing embryo, but they are also sometimes lethal for the women and girls who take them,” said Peggy Hamill, State Director of Pro-Life Wisconsin. “This was truly a horrific situation. A beautiful teenage girl with a bright future is dead. Even worse, because of Wisconsin’s taxpayer-funded birth control programs, a situation like this could easily happen again.”

In Wisconsin, the Medicaid Family Planning Demonstration Project currently provides free, taxpayer-funded birth control to 15, 16 and 17-year old girls without their parents’ knowledge or consent. Federal law prohibits parents from being notified that their 15, 16 and 17 year-old daughters are receiving free birth control under this project. This undermines parental authority and increases underage pregnancy and abortion by encouraging sexual promiscuity. Although Alycia did not access the patch through the Project, young teenagers like Alycia who are currently enrolled in the program can get the patch confidentially with little information about its adverse heath risks.

Alycia’s family filed suit against Ortho-McNeil, the maker of the Evra birth control patch, claiming that they were not adequately informed about the health risks associated with the patch and that the drug company intentionally withheld information from the Food and Drug Administration. The deaths of at least 23 women from across the country have also been blamed on the patch since it was introduced to the market in 2002.

“For years Pro-Life Wisconsin’s warnings about the health risks of these devices have been met with scorn by so-called ‘women’s health advocates.’ I can’t believe drugs like the patch are still referred to as women’s ‘healthcare,’” said Hamill. “These drugs do nothing to improve women’s health. In fact, in cases like Alycia’s, birth control drugs kill women.”

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