Washington State House of Representatives Office of Program Research
Children & Family Services
Committee
BILL ANALYSIS
HB 3010
Title: An act relating to family planning for incarcerated women.
Brief Description: Requiring family planning services for incarcerated women.
Sponsors: Representatives Dickerson, Cooke and Mitchell.
Meeting Date: February 3, 1998.
Bill Analysis Prepared by:Douglas Ruth (786-7134).
Background: Women who conceive drug affected babies suffer from both the disease of addiction as well as a lack of family planning knowledge. Although the ultimate means to prevent the birth of drug-affected babies is to cure these women=s addiction, offering family planning services to these women may also assist in achieving that goal. However, for this outreach to occur, the state must identify and contact these women. Two locations where the state is likely to find women at risk of giving birth to drug-affected infants is in local jails and chemical dependency treatment programs.
Incarcerated women are not normally offered access to birth control or family planning services while in jail. Representatives of the attorney general=s office have reported that this is due to the cost of these services. City and counties are responsible for the necessary health care of inmates in their jails. As a result, cities and counties place a low priority on funding family planning services for inmates. The available medical funds are used to care for other inmates= medical problems.
For women participating in a chemical dependency treatment program, the Department of Social and Health Services does not have a statutory duty to provide family planning services as part of their program.