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Does Increasing Financial Access to Contraception in the U.S. Reduce Unintended Pregnancies? Evidence from the M-CARES Randomized Controlled Trial at Two Years
Does Increasing Financial Access to Contraception in the U.S. Reduce Unintended Pregnancies? Evidence from the M-CARES Randomized Controlled Trial at Two Years
We use a randomized controlled trial to examine how out-of-pocket
costs affect contraceptive method choice, pregnancy, abortion, and
childbirth among uninsured U.S. women. The study recruited
women seeking care through Title X—a national family planning
program subsidizing reproductive health services for low-income
Americans—and randomized vouchers, making the full spectrum of
contraception highly discounted or free. We find that subsidizing
contraception has large and persistent effects on the choice of contraceptive
method, resulting in significantly fewer pregnancies and
abortions at 26 months. The effects on births are inconclusive.
