Any Woman Could Get Knocked Up At Any Time
That's the new plan from the government for the philosophy behind medical care for all women. January N. Payne writes in the Washington Post:

New federal guidelines ask all females capable of conceiving a baby to treat themselves -- and to be treated by the health care system -- as pre-pregnant, regardless of whether they plan to get pregnant anytime soon.

Among other things, this means all women between first menstrual period and menopause should take folic acid supplements, refrain from smoking, maintain a healthy weight and keep chronic conditions such as asthma and diabetes under control.

While most of these recommendations are well known to women who are pregnant or seeking to get pregnant, experts say it's important that women follow this advice throughout their reproductive lives, because about half of pregnancies are unplanned and so much damage can be done to a fetus between conception and the time the pregnancy is confirmed.

The recommendations aim to "increase public awareness of the importance of preconception health" and emphasize the "importance of managing risk factors prior to pregnancy," said Samuel Posner, co-author of the guidelines and associate director for science in the division of reproductive health at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which issued the report.

...Preconception care should be delivered by any doctor a patient sees -- from her primary care physician to her gynecologist. It involves developing a "reproductive health plan" that details if and when children are planned, said Janis Biermann, a report co-author and vice president for education and health promotion at the March of Dimes.

"The recommendations say we need to be opportunistic," or deliver care and counseling when opportunities arise, said Merry-K. Moos, a professor in the University of North Carolina's maternal fetal medicine division who sat on the CDC advisory panel. "Healthier women have healthier pregnancies."

But, what about poor women, who can't afford health care? I am completely against socialized medicine for all, and for employer-paid health care (I think anybody who isn't poor should do what I do -- pay for their own health care). It's completely wrong that an employer pay your health care -- especially in light of the fact that some people choose to get married and extrude five rugrats, and others remain...independent. (I don't really like the word single, as it means "not married," as if being married is the gold standard. Listen to a couple of married people arguing in Target, and I don't think you'll think it is either.)

Getting back to the issue at hand, it's inhumane and fiscally very stupid to not give preventive care to the very poor. But, no...we prefer to pay thousands upon thousands for dialysis when the diabetes or other disease gets full blown. And now, what...while we're all psycho that some smoke-sucking 15-year-old is going to get knocked up at any moment, we're just going to let the poor potential children rot?