Unwanted Pregnancies and State Health Programs

From the Washington Post an article about how in many states is it now more difficult to obtain medical services to prevent unwanted pregnancies. From the article:

At a time when policymakers have made reducing unintended pregnancies a national priority, 33 states have made it more difficult or more expensive for poor women and teenagers to obtain contraceptives and related medical services, according to an analysis released yesterday by the nonpartisan Guttmacher Institute.
From 1994 to 2001, many states cut funds for family planning, enacted laws restricting access to birth control and placed tight controls on sex education, said the institute, a privately funded research group that focuses on sexual health and family issues.
The statewide trends help explain why more than half of the 6 million pregnancies in the United States each year are unintended and offer clues for tackling problems associated with teenage pregnancy and abortion, said researchers who specialize in the field.

Click here to read the full article.

Click here to visit the Guttmacher Institute, which is cited in the article.

Click here to see how Colorado ranks in access to access to contraception and others means of preventing unwanted pregnancies.

--Tom Hayes