From Cara Murez
HealthDay reporter
THURSDAY, May 6, 2021 (HealthDay News) – Access to free or inexpensive birth control may be a major factor in improving the future of young women, according to new research from Colorado.
As access to affordable birth control increased, the percentage of young women leaving high school before graduation dropped by double digits, while the rate of pregnancies and abortion rates also fell. The study, conducted by researchers at the University of Colorado at Boulder, tracked more than 170,000 women for seven years.
“One of the basic claims made among people who support better access to contraception is that it improves women’s ability to complete their education and, in turn, improves their lives,” lead author and assistant professor of sociology Amanda Stevenson said in a press release the University. “This study is the first to provide rigorous, quantitative, and timely evidence that it is true.”
The Colorado Family Planning Initiative (CFPI) began in 2009 and expanded access to inexpensive forms of birth control such as condoms and oral contraceptives, but also to more expensive reversible long-life contraceptives (LARC), including intrauterine devices (IUDs) and implants.
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It was funded with a $ 27 million grant from a private donor that is increasing funding for clinics supported by the Title X federal grant program that provides reproductive services to low-income women.
Between 2009 and 2015, birth and abortion rates for adolescents aged 15-19 fell by half. They also decreased by 20% in women between the ages of 20 and 24.
To determine additional impact, researchers used U.S. census data to study the educational attainment of more than 5,000 Colorado women. They compared those whose high school careers came before the policy change to those in high school after the change. The researchers examined the same changes in outcomes for women of similar ages in 17 other states.
They found that the program reduced the percentage of women who left school before graduation in Colorado by 14%. That means 3,800 Colorado women born between 1994 and 1996 graduated from high school due to CFPI between the ages of 20 and 22.
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Overall, Colorado graduation rates rose from 88% before the CFPI was introduced to 92% after the CFPI was introduced. About half of that profit was due to the program. For Hispanic women, the improvements were even greater: graduation rates rose from 77% to 87%. The researchers attributed 5% of the increase to the CFPI.
“Supporting contraception access doesn’t eliminate high school graduation differences, but we do find that it can go a long way in limiting them,” said Stevenson, who believes the results in Colorado carry over to other states.
Accessible birth control also encourages higher graduation rates, said co-author Sara Yeatman, associate professor of health and behavioral sciences at the University of Colorado at Denver.
“We believe there is an indirect effect as well,” Yeatman said in the press release, suggesting that access to contraception is an empowerment. “Confidence that you can control your own fertility can help a young woman invest in her education and her future.”
The research team is now examining whether improved access to birth control can affect women’s futures in other ways. They hope the results will influence the conversation as lawmakers in the United States consider proposals to increase Title X funding, lift restrictions that require teens seek parental consent on birth control, and improve access.
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The results were published in Science Advances on May 5.
More information
The United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has more information about women’s reproductive health.
SOURCE: University of Colorado, news release, May 5, 2021
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