Does Increasing Access to Contraception in the U.S. Promote Contraceptive Choice or Reduce Undesired Pregnancies? Evidence From a Randomized Control Trial
Prof. Martha Bailey
Professor in the Department of Economics
Director of the California Center for Population Research
University of California-Los Angeles
This paper uses a randomized controlled trial to examine how subsidizing the full spectrum of contraceptive methods affects contraceptive choice, pregnancy, abortion, and childbirth among U.S. The study recruited women seeking reproductive health care through Title X—a national family planning program that subsidizes reproductive health services for low-income Americans—and follows their outcomes in administrative records and surveys. We find that subsidizing contraception has large and persistent effects on the choice of contraceptive method, resulting in significantly fewer pregnancies and abortions within two years. Although fewer births occurred in the treatment group, this difference was not statistically different from the control group after 26 months.
