NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts is a founding member of an initiative to prevent unplanned pregnancy and promote sexual health in the Commonwealth called Reproductive Empowerment and Decision Making for Young Adults (REaDY).

We are collaborating with a coalition of Massachusetts health service providers, advocates, and researchers on this unique, statewide project to reduce unplanned pregnancy among young adults in the wake of health care reform in the Commonwealth.

This multi-pronged initiative is focused on better understanding the individual, community, provider, and structural factors that influence the contraceptive behaviors of young adults aged 18 to 26 and on developing strategies to ensure that this age group has the resources they need to lead healthy sexual and reproductive lives. This includes making decisions about whether and when to become parents.

REaDY is led by an Executive Committee of multiple organizations and agencies within the Commonwealth. Ibis Reproductive Health is leading the formative research component, and the statewide, multi-agency taskforce is chaired by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health Family Planning Program and coordinated by NARAL Pro-Choice Massachusetts. Other Executive Committee members include the Boston Public Health Commission, the Massachusetts Family Planning Association, and youth development specialist TiElla Grimes.

In 2006, Massachusetts passed legislation aimed at improving access to health care by mandating all residents have health insurance by July 2007.

Young adults ages 18 to 26 are among those most affected by Massachusetts health reform because, nationwide, they are the most likely to be un- or under-insured and to experience an unintended pregnancy.

For this reason, the implementation of health care reform in Massachusetts serves as an important entry for more fully exploring and understanding young adults' sexual and reproductive health needs.

REaDY promises to offer a model for addressing pregnancy prevention and planning for young adults in the Commonwealth. The first year of the initiative involved formative research, the results of which will inform actions undertaken in the second year to improve the health care system and better prepare health service providers to care for young adults. Research findings and lessons learned here in Massachusetts are also expected to inform national health care reform efforts.

Over the first year and a half of the REaDY Initiative, we undertook formative research to better understand the impact of health reform on young adults' access to contraceptive and reproductive health services and to elucidate the ways in which systems and providers can be more responsive to young adults' needs. The formative research includes two primary components:

In the second phase, which began in January 2010, a statewide Taskforce formed to take responsibility for developing two interventions that empower young adults to take charge of their sexual and reproductive health and address system-level barriers to contraception coverage and reproductive health needs.

These activities included the creation of user-friendly materials to help young adults navigate their health insurance options as they relates to sexual and reproductive health. This resulted in the development of My Little Black Book for Sexual Health - an interactive online guide that answers questions about finding health plans that work for young adults, why prescription coverage matters, and how birth control fits in. My Little Black Book for Sexual Health is available online and in a PDF format. A Spanish language version will be available in January 2011.

The Taskforce also pursued strategies to enhance the contraceptive coverage requirements of Young Adult Plans and organized discussions with policy makers to address several barriers to reproductive health care uncovered in the formative research.

The Taskforce includes family planning agencies, medical providers, community health centers, colleges/universities, advocacy and community-based groups, state and local health departments, and young adults themselves.