2
Board of Directors
Lorretta Johnson, Chair
American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO
Martha Darling, Vice Chair
Boeing (retired)
Daisy Chin-Lor
Daisy Chin-Lor & Associates
Hilary Doe
NationBuilder
Beth Grupp
Beth Grupp Associates
Rhiana Gunn-Wright
New Consensus
Mary Hansen
American University
Esmeralda O. Lyn
Worldwide Capital Advisory Partners LLC
Joan Marsh
AT&T
William Rodgers
Rutgers University
Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner
MomsRising
Elizabeth Shuler
AFL-CIO
Marci B. Sternheim
Sternheim Consulting
Sheila W. Wellington
NYU/Stern School of Business Emerita
Marcia Worthing
New York, NY
Institute for Women’s Policy Research
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Washington, DC 20036
www.iwpr.org
IWPR # B381
© Copyright 2019 by the Institute for Women’s
About this Report
This review highlights the relationship between contraceptive access in the
United States and a number of economic outcomes, including educational
attainment, labor market indicators, poverty, and economic effects for later
generations. The body of literature reviewed uses research designs that
allow for the identification of causal impacts of contraceptive access, rather
than associations. Unlike associations, causal relationships isolate the
impact of contraceptive access itself and eliminate factors that might be
associated with both economic outcomes and use of contraception. The
implications of these findings for programs, policy, and research are
discussed, in addition to limitations and challenges of this body of
literature.
This report was made possible by the support of the William and Flora
Hewlett Foundation, as part of the research undertaken at the Institute for
Women’s Policy Research’s Center on the Economics of Reproductive
Health, which examines the connections between women’s economic
security and reproductive health access. An accompanying review details
the evidence of the economic effects of abortion access, which is available at
IWPR.org.
About the Institute for Women’s Policy
Research
The Institute for Women’s Policy Research (IWPR) conducts and
communicates research to inspire public dialogue, shape policy, and
improve the lives and opportunities of women of diverse backgrounds,
circumstances, and experiences. The Institute’s research strives to give
voice to the needs of women from diverse ethnic and racial backgrounds
across the income spectrum and to ensure that their perspectives enter the
public debate on ending discrimination and inequality, improving
opportunity, and increasing economic security for women and families.
The Institute works with policymakers, scholars, and public interest groups
to design, execute, and disseminate research and to build a diverse network
of individuals and organizations that conduct and use women-oriented
policy research. IWPR’s work is supported by foundation grants,
government grants and contracts, donations from individuals, and
contributions from organizations and corporations. IWPR is a 501(c)(3)
tax exempt organization that also works in collaboration with the Program
on Gender Analysis in Economics, Department of Economics, College of
Liberal Arts and Sciences, American University.