A new study led by a professor at the University of Colorado Denver has found that access to contraceptives increases college completion rates among women. The study, which was published in the journal Health Affairs, tracked thousands of women over 11 years who were impacted by the 2009 Colorado Family Planning Initiative (CFPI), which expanded access to contraceptives statewide.
The researchers found that exposure to the initiative at high school ages was associated with a six to 12 percent increase in women obtaining their bachelor’s degrees compared with earlier cohorts.
The study’s lead author, Sara Yeatman, a Health and Behavioral Sciences professor at CU Denver, said: “Past research linked the introduction of the oral contraceptive pill in the 1960s to women’s college completion, but it was unclear whether improvements in access to contraception in the contemporary U.S. would yield similar results… Now we have data that clearly makes the connection… the takeaway is that policies restricting or expanding access to the full range of contraceptive methods can and do affect women’s attainment of higher education, which we know impacts their overall quality of life.”
The research team used 11 years of American Community Survey data and the 2000 and 2010 censuses for its analysis, including the careful identification of cohorts of women who were exposed to CFPI and linked them to their later education outcomes, even if they had since left the state. The information provided by the Census was stripped of identifying data to ensure privacy.
The CFPI legislation expanded access to contraceptives by giving clients of Title X clinics the option to choose any FDA-approved method (including long-acting reversible methods such as an IUD or contraceptive implant) at low or no cost.
Study co-author Amanda Stevenson, an assistant professor of sociology at CU Boulder, said: “Fully-funding Title X programs and other publicly subsidized family planning funding streams can improve young women’s educational attainment at the population level.”
The study’s findings demonstrate the significant impact that access to contraceptives can have on women’s education and overall quality of life.
Policymakers should consider the role of such policies in expanding opportunities for women in higher education and beyond.
Funding for the study was provided by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), the National Institutes of Health, the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, and the NICHD-funded University of Colorado Population Center.
The findings do not necessarily represent the official views of the Census Bureau or the National Institutes of Health.