Carol Schwartz
Response to Planned Parenthood Questions

1. How would you improve the health care safety net for low-income women and children?

Providing quality programs and services to the city's most vulnerable populations is central to the District's recovery. The success of our city depends on the success of its people — all its people and government must support their efforts. For low-income women and their children, this means ensuring that healthcare is accessible, that child care is available and affordable, and that job-training programs are competent and plentiful.

Birth control, pre- and post-natal care, breast and cervical cancer screening, drug and alcohol counseling, HIV-AIDS screening, and mental health counseling, including rape crisis counseling, are critical components in women’s health. Timely vaccinations, nutrition, and regular check-ups are crucial to the health of a child. Government must work diligently with our local hospitals and our many fine non-profit groups to ensure that low-income women and children have access to these vital and basic healthcare needs.

I will ensure that we get all available Medicaid dollars and spend them wisely and in a timely fashion. For too long, our government did not take advantage of these federal dollars. I am concerned about the healthcare needs of the working poor who are not covered by Medicaid and will explore ways to start group health plans for those individuals. I would also look to non-profits for help. Many of our non-profits are leveraging and targeting resources in creative ways. As mayor, I would consider allocating grant resources to high-performing organizations rather than creating any new administrative bureaucracy to compete with them for the limited funds that are available. They are the experts at the grass-roots level. They collaborate well with one another and with our hospitals and clinics to identify and respond swiftly to the needs in the community. As mayor, I would actively facilitate that collaboration. I will encourage new and existing organizations to fill gaps by creating innovative approaches to the delivery of healthcare and disease prevention education.

2. What is your position on supplementing Title X funds?

Of course, local governments should supplement Title X funds. For some women in our city, the care they receive through Title X funding is the only medical care they receive. However, in the past the District government has been lax in making certain that the District received funds for family planning services. The District stood to lose this crucial federal funding altogether until Planned Parenthood became the administrator for these funds. If we are to prevent unintended pregnancies and give women real choices, we must do all we can to see that women, especially teens, have access to services provided by the Title X grants. Along with government augmentation of these funds, we must also look to other collaborations. The Allen Chapel Family Planning Center in Ward Eight is a good example of how such collaborations could work. Title X funds were supplemented by Planned Parenthood of Metropolitan Washington and Allen Chapel provided the space for the clinic. As mayor, I will work to see that low cost family planning services are available in every section of our city.

3. What is your position on government-mandated parental involvement in a child’s access to reproductive health services?

Parents should be included in medical decisions made by their minor children. However, some young people cannot speak to their parents about these issues. And in those cases, young men and women who need family planning and counseling should have easy access to these services. A part of this counseling should address helping young people and their parents to better communicate. I am very interested in seeing more programs like Parent-Child Communications workshops that bring young people and parents together where they are comfortable discussing sensitive issues. All elements of the community have a stake in reproductive health care. I am very interested in bringing more churches into the equation. I think that the collaboration that Planned Parenthood has begun with some churches in the community is a positive first step.

4. What is your position on action that requires insurers to cover prescription contraceptives in the same way they cover prescription drugs?

This seems to me to be a no-brainer. If men can get Viagra through their health care plan then contraceptives should certainly be available. This is a pocket book issue. Paying for contraceptives is far more cost effective than paying for the costs associated with unintended pregnancies.

5. What is your position on teaching responsible, age-appropriate sex education, including information about both abstinence and contraception, in public schools?

We Americans must take our heads out of the sand on the issue of family planning. Abstinence is a very important concept to teach our young people. But for the 50 percent of teens who do not abstain, we must make certain that they must use contraception every time they have sex, not only to prevent unwanted pregnancies, but also to protect against life-threatening diseases. We need to expand the messages we send to our young people to make certain that unintended pregnancies do not occur. I favor such teaching in the context of family life education classes.

6A. What is your position on the rights of women to seek and obtain medically safe, legal abortions?

I am solidly, unequivocally pro-choice. I concur with Planned Parenthood that women have the right to seek and obtain medically safe, legal abortions under the standards set forth by the Supreme Court.

6B. What is your position on Anti-choice groups that have tried to erode a woman’s constitutionally protected right to choose by trying to ban specific abortion procedures?

I think anti-choice groups are wrong when they try to deny women the freedom of choice. Women do not approach abortion frivolously. Those few who might use abortion as a preferred means of birth control should be persuaded otherwise.

6C. What is your position on a ban or other restrictions that would limit access to safe and medically necessary methods of abortion?

I am against a ban or restriction that would limit access to safe and medically necessary methods of abortion. I have faith in the medical profession as a whole and in its members’ judicious determination of medically necessary surgical procedures.

6D. What is your position on government restrictions on access to safe, medical, non-surgical abortion?

I am against government restrictions on access to safe, medical, non-surgical abortion. I am for adequate testing and approval procedures to determine safety for the women seeking a nonsurgical abortion.

7. What is your position on local government funding for abortions for low-income women?

We are the only jurisdiction in the country that is not permitted to use locally raised tax money as it sees fit. The District has long had legislation on the books to fund abortions for poor women. Low income women should have the same access to abortion as women of higher income. Again, I do not favor abortion as a preferred method of birth control, but women should have the option and the access regardless of income.

8. How will you extend quality and affordability of child care for working women?

Inadequate availability of affordable childcare is a huge impediment to success for working women and for women working their way off of welfare. Relevant agencies with capable and well-trained staff need to assist with child care. We should also encourage businesses to promote family friendly policies and child care benefit plans in order to attract good workers. As the city becomes economically more viable, more business friendly, and revenues increase, I see the advantage of encouraging entrepreneurial DC residents to develop child care sites in DC near downtown workplaces. The Council recently passed legislation, which I supported, that reduced license fees for child care providers while maintaining strict licensing requirements. This action should help maintain and even increase access to needed child care.

9. What is your position on the role of the University of the District of Columbia in providing upward mobility for the city's poor?

A good education provides the best upward mobility for the poor. UDC is needed to provide our city’s residents with an opportunity for an affordable post-secondary education. . It should maintain and increase standards for the purpose of providing a creditable higher education. UDC should continue to support Saturday and enrichment programs for District of Columbia Public Schools students. In addition, the University should mobilize an alumni association for the purpose of providing a network of potential employment opportunities. It should link students in various academic departments with internships in relevant city agencies.

10. How will you improve education for children in the public school system?

I believe that education is a continuous process. It does not begin and end at the classroom door. We must return educational achievement to the high priority that it once held in our city and in our nation. For if we do not we will never be able to achieve the economic, social and technological goals that we all want for our city. As mayor, I will use the office as a bully pulpit for education. I will make certain agencies under my purview participate in educating our children. I will insist that day care and after-school programs run by the Department of Recreation and Parks provide learning experiences that are coordinated with the public school curriculum. I will explore offering weekend and after-school training in test-taking for standardized tests and SATs for children whose parents cannot afford private training programs. And I will enlist the business community's help in equipping our children to compete in today's technological world. I will support efforts of Superintendent Arlene Ackerman to do the job she was hired to do. I will be an active participant in removing governmental red tape that are impediments to academic excellence. As a former Board of Education member, as an individual who was educated in public schools and a public university, and as a parent of three children who only attended D.C. Public Schools, I know first-hand that public education can work and I will prove it.

11. What is your position on expanding access to quality after-school programs and recreational opportunities for students in the District of Columbia?

I favor after-school programs that provide learning experiences as well as recreational activities. I would also like to see the Department of Recreation expand their programs for the disabled. The Department of Recreation might also be an agency that could collaborate with some of the private agencies who bring parents and children together to discuss family life issues. Students need to be nurtured in their physical health and learn cooperation and competitiveness in a structured setting. I would encourage community resources offered by programs such as the Metropolitan Police Boys and Girls Clubs, Campfire Girls, the Scouts, and other similar programs that provide a community bridge between school and home. Various religious groups have good models and draw on member resources to provide solid programs. Two that come to mind are the Washington Interfaith Network and the Church Association of Community services that was initially funded by Potomac Electric Power Company. I would love to see company sponsorship of local junior teams revived and see companies heralded for their cooperative participation. Quality after school programs and recreational opportunities for our students are a vital component in their development as active and well-rounded individuals. In my volunteer activities I have worked toward providing such programs to our young people. As mayor, I would have the opportunity to do far more and would relish that opportunity.