HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overrides FDA decision to make emergency contraception more broadly accessible

On December 7, 2011, Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius overruled the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) decision to make Plan B One-Step emergency contraception available over the counter for all women. “Secretary Sebelius’ decision to ignore the scientific evidence and keep Plan B One-Step off the shelves of local grocery stores and pharmacies is a huge disappointment,” says Sharon Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute…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.

World AIDS Day: More work needed to bridge the gap between HIV and family planning services worldwide

U.S. policy strongly encourages linkages between HIV and family planning programs in developing countries, but a failure to ensure that women in HIV treatment programs have access to contraceptives is undermining efforts to integrate these two critical health services...more

Many American women use birth control pills for noncontraceptive reasons

The most common reason U.S. women use oral contraceptive pills is to prevent pregnancy, but 14% of pill users—1.5 million women—rely on them exclusively for noncontraceptive purposes. Additionally, teens who use the pill are more likely to do so for noncontraceptive purposes (82%) than for birth control (67%); and one in three teens reports using the pill exclusively for noncontraceptive reasons…more

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

Video: El aborto en los Estados Unidos

Our video “Abortion in the United States” has received over 82,000 views on YouTube since its launch in May 2011. Guttmacher is pleased to make this very accessible tool available to Spanish speakers as well. “El Aborto en los Estados Unidos” aims to ensure that the debate around abortion is based on sound evidence and placed in the proper context of closely related issues like unintended pregnancy, contraceptive use and sex education...click here for more in English and Spanish.

Transcript available here.

Although highly restricted, abortion is common in Tehran

A new study in the September issue of International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health by Amir Erfani, of Nipissing University in Ontario, finds that one in six women will have an abortion in their lifetime if current rates remain unchanged. In addition, married women in Tehran have about 11,500 abortions annually, the majority of which are likely illegal. The author argues that resources need to be allocated for services and counseling to prevent unintended pregnancy for those at risk, but cautions that the Iranian government’s recommendation to double the nation’s population could lead to a shift in the country’s policies on family planning, resulting in an increase in the incidence of unsafe and clandestine abortion…more

The Guttmacher Institute honors Eric Buhi
with the 2011 Darroch Award

The Guttmacher Institute honors Eric R. Buhi, Ph.D., M.P.H, assistant professor of community and family health at the University of South Florida’s College of Public Health, as the 2011 recipient of the Darroch Award for Excellence in Sexual and Reproductive Health Research. The Guttmacher Institute established the award in 2005 to recognize leadership among sexual and reproductive health researchers who are in the early or middle years of their career. It is named for Jacqueline E. Darroch, Ph.D., former senior vice president for science and currently a senior fellow at the Institute, whose three decades at Guttmacher exemplified rigorous and innovative research with a commitment to practical application to policy and programs...more

New study documents abortion incidence in Colombia and the consequences of clandestine procedures

The first assessment in two decades of abortion in Colombia shows that one in 26 Colombian women had an abortion in 2008 and that approximately 30% of all pregnancies ended in abortion. The new report, Unintended Pregnancy and Induced Abortion in Colombia: Causes and Consequences, released today by the Guttmacher Institute and Fundación Oriéntame, found that about 400,400 induced abortions were performed in the country in 2008, an increase from about 288,000 in 1989. However, the abortion rate has not changed substantially over the past two decades…click here for more in English and Spanish.

The world at seven billion: Helping women achieve their desired family size is the micro-level solution to a macro-level challenge

The fact that the world’s population continues to grow apace and will reach seven billion later this year presents numerous economic, developmental, environmental and social challenges. Many of these pressures can be effectively addressed by doing more to empower women and couples around the world to decide for themselves when to become pregnant and how many children to have...more

Disparities in unintended pregnancy grow
even as national rate stagnates

iStockphoto/ArtisticCapturesA new analysis from the Guttmacher Institute shows that the overall U.S. unintended pregnancy rate has remained essentially unchanged since 1994, even as the rate increased dramatically among poor women and decreased substantially among higher-income women. In 2006, poor women had an unintended pregnancy rate five times that of higher-income women, and an unintended birth rate six times as high…more

Click here for a new Guttmacher analysis on the steep cost of unintended pregnancy on public policies and programs.

Department of Health and Human Services adopts IOM recommendations in full

In a move that could significantly improve access to contraceptives for millions of women, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services is adopting in full the recommendations for women’s preventive health care the Institute of Medicine issued in July. The services recommended by the IOM, including contraceptive counseling and provision of all methods approved by the Food and Drug Administration, will be covered without out-of-pocket costs to patients by new private health plans written on or after August 1, 2012...more

States enact record number of abortion restrictions in first half of 2011

In the first six months of 2011, states enacted 162 new provisions related to reproductive health and rights. Fully 49% of these new laws seek to restrict access to abortion services. The 80 abortion restrictions enacted this year are more than double the previous record of 34 abortion restrictions enacted in 2005—and more than triple the 23 enacted in 2010...more

Publicly subsidized family planning services are indispensable for many women

Three new Guttmacher policy analyses examine the role of family planning centers as an entryway into the health care system, the challenge of reducing unintended pregnancy among foster youth, and the crucial impact of the federal Title X family planning program. The articles underscore the vital importance of family planning services to the health and well-being of poor and low-income women in general, and marginalized populations in particular…more

Unintended pregnancy costs taxpayers roughly $11 billion each year

New Guttmacher research finds that two-thirds of births resulting from unintended pregnancies–more than one million births each year–are publicly funded. The cost of those births, and the potential gross saving from helping women to avert them, is estimated at $11.1 billion.

A second new Guttmacher study provides the first-ever estimates of unintended pregnancy for each state. These data provide an important benchmark for future efforts to monitor states’ progress toward reducing unintended pregnancy...more

Postabortion contraception is key to reducing repeat unintended pregnancy and abortion

Because most abortions result from unintended pregnancies—and many from repeat unintended pregnancies—better access to affordable and effective contraceptive services and supplies for women who obtain abortions should be a high priority. Virtually all abortion providers offer at least some postabortion contraceptive services, yet for many women, the facility at which they obtain an abortion is unable to fully meet their needs…more

Video: Abortion in the United States

The Guttmacher Institute has long worked to ensure that the debate around abortion is based on sound evidence and placed in the proper context of closely related issues like unintended pregnancy, contraceptive use and sex education. We are pleased to announce a new tool that is designed to do just that, as we launch a short animated video that summarizes key facts about abortion in the United States.

Let us know what you think on our Facebook page.

Many women report interest in couple-focused services

The majority of American women surveyed at Title X–funded family planning clinics report that they are interested in attending couple-focused counseling or classes with their partner, yet clinics face a number of barriers that limit their ability to offer such services. Paramount among these is a lack of financial resources…more

Abortion rate increases among poor women,
decreases among African American women

New Guttmacher research finds that abortion rates declined among most groups of women between 2000 and 2008, with the notable exception of poor women. Rates among this group increased 18%, from 44.4 abortions per 1,00 women aged 15-44 in 2000 to 52.2 per 1,000 in 2008. In this same time period, abortion rates decreased 18% among African American women, the largest decline among the racial and ethnic groups surveyed…more.

High rates of contraceptive discontinuation highlight need for stronger family planning services in developing world

In six diverse developing countries, more than four in 10 women discontinue use of their method within one year, according to a study by Sian Curtis of the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, et al., published in the June issue of International Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health. Because relatively high proportions of births were reported as intended following contraceptive failure or discontinuation for reasons other than wanting to get pregnant (for example, side effects), the researchers suggest that ambivalent fertility desires are an important factor in contraceptive discontinuation...more

Women’s use of long acting contraceptive methods doubled

Use of long-acting reversible contraceptive methods among American women has increased significantly, from 2.4% in 2002 to 5.6% in 2006-2008. Notwithstanding this substantial increase, use of these methods in the United States remains among the lowest of any developed country…more.

More investment in contraceptive technologies
needed to reduce unintended pregnancy rates among developing country women

Seven out of 10 women in Sub-Saharan Africa, South Central Asia and Southeast Asia who want to avoid pregnancy but are not using modern contraceptives report reasons for nonuse that indicate currently available methods do not satisfy their needs, according to new Guttmacher research. The study found that overcoming method-related reasons for contraceptive nonuse could reduce unintended pregnancy by as much as 59% in these regions and that increased investment in the development of new methods that better address women’s concerns is needed...more

Contraceptive use is the norm among religious women

iStockphoto.com/Christopher FutcherContraceptive use by Catholics and Evangelicals—including those who attend religious services most frequently—is the norm, according to a new Guttmacher report. This finding confirms that policies making contraceptives more affordable and easier to use reflect the needs and desires of the vast majority of U.S. women and their partners, regardless of their religious beliefs...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

Title X-supported family planning services

Subsidized family planning services are vital to achieving important public health goals by helping millions of young and economically disadvantaged American women prevent unintended pregnancies. Title X funds subsidize direct client services and provide vital support for the establishment and maintenance of family planning centers in communities where services are needed...more

Click here to view fact sheets detailing the impact of Title X in each state.

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