Legalization alone does not guarantee availability of safe abortion services
A new report examines the implementation and impact of abortion law reform in six settings—Cambodia, Colombia, Ethiopia, Mexico City, Nepal and South Africa—and finds that expanding access to legal abortion does not in itself guarantee a decline in unsafe procedures. While law reform is a positive step toward improving women’s health, little comprehensive information has been available until now on how laws legalizing abortion have been implemented and what impact they have on the provision of abortion services and women’s health…more
Unintended pregnancies and resulting births remain common among young U.S. women
In 2008, more than two-thirds (69%) of all pregnancies among unmarried U.S. women aged 20–29 were unintended, compared with only half of pregnancies among reproductive-age women overall. In addition, social and economic disadvantage continue to be strongly linked to increased risk for unintended pregnancy. These findings suggest that more efforts are needed to help young women and their partners reduce their risk through improved contraceptive use. Increased use of long-acting contraceptive methods may be key in reducing unintended pregnancy for these women…more
See also a new study by Jennifer Frost et al., published in Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health, which examines contraceptive knowledge and attitudes among this high-risk group…more
State policy trends: Abortion and contraception in the crosshairs
In the first three months of 2012, legislators in 45 states introduced 944 provisions related to reproductive health and rights. Legislators are particularly focused on requiring a woman seeking an abortion to undergo an ultrasound, limiting access to medication abortion and prohibiting abortion at a specific point in gestation. Several states are also considering measures allowing employers to refuse to provide insurance coverage for contraceptives…more
Teen births at record low thanks to improvements in contraceptive use
The U.S. teen birthrate declined 9% between 2009 and 2010 to a record low of 34 births per 1,000 teens aged 15–19, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Teen birthrates have now declined for nearly two decades and the 2010 rate represents a 44% drop from 1991. The most recent decline in teen births can be linked almost exclusively to improvements in teens’ contraceptive use…more
Unsafe abortion poses serious threat to Rwandan women’s health
Michael Hanson/National Geographic Society/
CorbisThe first national estimates of abortion incidence in Rwanda show that one in 40 women aged 15–44 had an abortion in 2009 and that virtually all of these abortions were clandestine procedures that were highly likely to be unsafe. The study, conducted by the National University of Rwanda’s School of Public Health and the U.S.-based Guttmacher Institute, in collaboration with the Ministry of Health, found that an estimated 60,000 induced abortions occurred that year...more in English and French.
In India, cumulative effects of social inequities linked to poor maternal health care
Women in India who are poor, have little education and are underweight face significant barriers in obtaining access to appropriate maternal health care, according to a new study in the March issue of International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. The study also found wide inequalities in the provision of antenatal care, medical assistance at delivery and postnatal care among Indian women. Low education was more strongly associated than poverty or poor nutrition with not receiving appropriate maternal health services…more
Medicaid drives upward trend in public funding for family planning services
Public funding for family planning services reached nearly $2.4 billion in fiscal year 2010. Medicaid, the joint federal-state insurance program for millions of low-income individuals and families, accounted for 75% ($1.8 billion) of the total, compared with 12% for state-only sources and 10% for the Title X federal family planning program…more
More than half of all reproductive-age U.S. women live in states hostile to abortion rights
Fifty-five percent of all reproductive-age American women lived in a state hostile to abortion rights in 2011, up significantly from 31% in 2000. The increase is the result of a dramatic shift in abortion policy at the state level, including a record number of abortion restrictions that were enacted in 2011. While 35 states saw no significant changes in abortion policy, all 15 states whose abortion policy landscape changed substantially became more restrictive…more
Study purporting to show link between abortion and mental health outcomes decisively debunked
A study purporting to show a causal link between abortion and subsequent mental health problems has fundamental analytical errors that render its conclusions invalid. Most egregiously, the study, by Priscilla Coleman and colleagues, did not distinguish between mental health outcomes that occurred before abortions and those that occurred afterward, but still claimed to show a causal link between abortion and mental disorders…more
Sex education linked to delay in first sex
Teens who receive formal sex education prior to their first sexual experience demonstrate a range of healthier behaviors at first intercourse than those who receive no sex education at all. This is particularly so when the instruction they receive includes information about both waiting to have sex and methods of birth control…more
Family planning centers face myriad challenges in adopting health information technology
Many publicly funded family planning centers have made only halting progress toward adopting electronic health records, electronic billing and other types of health information technology...more
Teen pregnancy at lowest level in nearly 40 years
Teen pregnancies have declined dramatically in the United States, as have the births and abortions that result. In 2008, the teen pregnancy rate stood at 67.8 pregnancies per 1,000 women aged 15–19, which was the lowest rate ever recorded, and 42% below the peak of 116.9 per 1,000 in 1990...more
Are you IN THE KNOW?
The Guttmacher Institute is pleased to launch Are you IN THE KNOW?, a new set of resources designed to inform a broad range of audiences about contraception, pregnancy, abortion and teen health in a simple, compelling and fun format. The Institute has long worked to increase public awareness about sexual and reproductive health issues and counter misinformation with sound scientific evidence. Are you IN THE KNOW? builds on those efforts by covering topics such as the frequency of premarital sex in America, the incidence of abortion in the United States and globally, and the many positive effects of comprehensive sexuality education, in an accessible way...more
HHS decision on contraception as preventive care resists pressure for overly-broad religious exemption
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) on January 20 announced that it was finalizing a rule under which a range of women’s preventive health services—including contraceptive counseling, services and supplies—will be covered by private insurance plans without out-of-pocket costs to patients. Significantly, DHHS resisted pressure for an overly broad religious exemption to the contraceptive coverage requirement…more
See also “The Religious Exemption to Mandated Insurance Coverage of Contraception” by Guttmacher expert Adam Sonfield in Virtual Mentor, the bioethics journal published by the American Medical Association…more
Guttmacher’s paper on religion and contraceptive use, which found that 99% of all sexually experienced U.S. women of reproductive age—including 98% of Catholic women—have ever used a method of contraception other than natural family planning can be found here.
New study finds long-term worldwide decline in abortions
has stalled
After a period of substantial decline, the global abortion rate has stalled, according to new research from the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization. Between 1995 and 2003, the number of abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age (15–44 years) worldwide dropped from 35 to 29; the new study found that in 2008 the global abortion rate was 28 per 1,000, virtually unchanged since 2003. This plateau coincides with a United Nations–documented slowdown in contraceptive uptake, which has been especially marked in developing countries …click here for more in English, French, and Spanish.
In India, condoms are rarely used during premarital sex
Ocean/CorbisOnly 7% of young women and 27% of young men who report having had premarital sexual relationships say they ever used condoms in those relationships, according to a new study by K.G. Santhya, Rajib Acharya and Shireen J. Jejeebhoy of the Population Council, New Delhi, in the December issue of International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. The authors suggest that communication and education programs aimed at promoting condom use among youth are needed, along with adaptations to the service delivery structure that would enable youth to obtain condoms easily and confidentially …more
State Medicaid family planning expansions improve women’s health while saving money
A new report that pulls together the body of evidence from evaluations of state programs that have expanded Medicaid eligibility for family planning finds that the benefits they provide are broad and far-reaching. These programs have proven both effective and cost-effective, while simultaneously pioneering innovations in outreach and enrollment that hold important lessons for the implementation of health care reform…more
Burkinabe women experience high rates of unintended pregnancy
Kathy Jesencky/ PhotoshareA new study finds that high rates of unintended pregnancy in Burkina Faso are taking a toll on women, their families and the national health care system. According to the new report, roughly one-third of all pregnancies in Burkina Faso are unintended, which contributes to the country’s high rates of maternal mortality and ill-health. Approximately 3,600 women die every year from maternal causes and nearly 25% of those women had not intended to be pregnant. The report, "Benefits of Meeting Women’s Contraceptive Needs in Burkina Faso," released today by the Guttmacher Institute and the Institut de Recherches en Sciences de la Santé, finds that 64% of women in Burkina Faso who want to avoid pregnancy have an unmet need for modern contraception. Furthermore, a greater investment in family planning would dramatically reduce the number of unintended pregnancies, unsafe abortions and maternal deaths in the country, as well as provide significant cost savings to the health care system…more in English and French.
Making the case for increased support for publicly funded family planning
Recent efforts at the state and federal levels to cut funding for family planning services are shortsighted at best. Whether driven by fiscal constraints or ideology, cutting publicly funded family planning services runs counter to the national goal of reducing unintended pregnancy. A new editorial by Guttmacher experts Rachel Benson Gold and Adam Sonfield in the journal Contraception argues that expanding access to family planning services provides an opportunity for states to improve women’s health and well-being while simultaneously shoring up the financial sustainability of the Medicaid program, on which 4 in 10 poor women of reproductive age rely...more
Claim that most abortion clinics are located in black neighborhoods is false
A new Guttmacher analysis debunks the claim by antiabortion activists that most abortion clinics are located in predominantly black neighborhoods. In fact, fewer than one in 10 abortion clinics are located in neighborhoods where at least half of the population is African-American...more
Deep cuts to U.S. international family planning assistance would have devastating impact
Pascal Deloche/Godong/CorbisThe USAID family planning and reproductive health program has unique attributes that make it especially effective at empowering women in developing countries to better time and space their pregnancies...more
Thousands of women in poor countries would die from pregnancy-related complications if funding for U.S. international family planning and reproductive health assistance were cut significantly. Our fact sheet details the negative impact of every $10 million decrease in the program...more
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