New Study Confirms Obamacare’s Birth Control Mandate Could Reduce Abortion Rate
Source: tpm
A new study focusing on low-income women in St. Louis, MO concludes that expanding access to free contraception just as the health care reform law does through its provision to provide birth control without a co-pay leads to significantly lower rates of unintended teen pregnancy and abortion. Researchers found that when women werent prohibited by cost, they chose more effective, long-lasting forms of birth control and experienced much fewer unintended pregnancies as a result.
Researchers from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis worked in partnership with the local Planned Parenthood affiliate to track over 9,200 low-income women in the St. Louis area, some of whom lacked insurance coverage, during a four-year Contraceptive CHOICE study. The CHOICE project simulated Obamacares birth control provision by allowing teens and women to select from the full range of FDA-approved contraceptive options and receive their preferred method at no cost. They found that birth rates among the teens who received free birth control in the CHOICE project were less than a fifth of the national teen birth rate just 6.3 births per 1,000 teens, compared to 34.3 per 1,000 teens nationwide in 2010 and abortion rates were less than half of both the regional and national rates.
And researchers are confident that these positive findings could extend to the rest of the nation, estimating that the national simulation of their CHOICE program could prevent one abortion for every 79 to 137 women given a choice between free birth control options. As a society, we want to reduce unintended pregnancies and abortion rates. This study has demonstrated that having access to no-cost contraception helps us get to that goal, Alina Salganicoff, director of womens health policy at the Kaiser Family Foundation, told the Associated Press.
In a press release, Planned Parenthood officials noted that the study strongly suggests that President Obamas health reform law will help lower the abortion rate. This study shows that the Affordable Care Acts birth control benefit can dramatically reduce the need for abortion in the U.S. once it is fully implemented, said Dana Singiser, the vice president of public policy and government relations for Planned Parenthood Federation of America. To prevent unintended pregnancy, women need full information, full coverage and full choice for what type of birth control works best for them.
Read more: http://thinkprogress.org/health/2012/10/05/966121/obamacare-birth-control-abortion/
ck4829
(35,091 posts)Of course, with Republicans, even the ambulance at the bottom would still be socialist.
And that argument can be used for everything the Republicans talk about.
They want neither a fence (More access to birth control or contraceptives) or the ambulance (abortion), they want babies born from rape and incest to float around, but they can't be adopted because they don't want gays to adopt them either!
SamKnause
(13,110 posts)Exactly !!!
bamacrat
(3,867 posts)Megahurtz
(7,046 posts)even more vile filth from Republicans mouths saying things like - those women shouldn't be 'spreading their legs" in the first place - so I guess they want those babies floating around as a sick punishment of some sort.
SemperEadem
(8,053 posts)the men need to keep their fucking zippers zipped, then. Mary was the last one to get pregnant by a dry hump.
SamKnause
(13,110 posts)I imagine the Republicans and the Tea Party are very aware of this information. They stay focused on the vaginas of U.S. women like a laser.
That explains why they are trying to overturn Roe v Wade and restrict birth control.
That is why they do not support equal pay for women.
That is why they question separation of church and state.
They do not believe in equal rights for women.
They do not think women are capable of making choices about their own bodies.
They do not think women should work outside the home.
samgreatuncle
(7 posts)the only way to reduce abortion is to ban it. telling people not to fuck also works.
Lucy Goosey
(2,940 posts)So how does lawless Canada stack up against regulated America?
In Canada, the teen birth and abortion rate is 27.0/1,000 women between the ages of 15-19 versus 61.2/1,000 in the United States.
The abortion rate among all women of reproductive age (15-44) in Canada is 14.1/1,000 versus 20/1,000 in the United States.
Put another way, the teen birth and abortion rate is more than 50% higher in the United States versus Canada and the abortion rate is about 25% higher in the Unites States.
Canadian women also have something else. They have access to health care and sex education is widely taught in the schools. Laws, cost, and indignities dont reduce abortion, knowledge and contraception do.
http://drjengunter.wordpress.com/2012/03/24/what-happens-when-there-is-no-abortion-law/
The blogger is an OB/GYN who has practised in the US and in Canada, and the article is well referenced. More at the link.
kestrel91316
(51,666 posts)joeglow3
(6,228 posts)Many people believe life begins at fertilization and that a drug that prevents the fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine wall is abortion.
Lucy Goosey
(2,940 posts)It doesn't matter who believes it; it's not true that a drug that prevents a fertilized egg from attaching to the uterine wall is an abortion. Period. This isn't an issue of belief or opinion.
joeglow3
(6,228 posts)I am not saying I agree. However, I know a number of people with this view.
Lucy Goosey
(2,940 posts)And again, it doesn't matter how many people believe it, birth control pills don't cause abortions.
joeglow3
(6,228 posts)I have not seen a scientific fact as to when life begins and that appears to be the deciding factor in this. I personally agree with your view, but don't feel comfortable claiming the certainty that you do.
caraher
(6,279 posts)Medically yes, you're absolutely right... but the folks joe is talking about are applying a definition advanced by medical experts like conservative Catholic bishops. So while any normal person would say birth control is vastly preferable to abortion, those who have drunk the kool aid have the view that its actually just the same thing. Arguing that their definition is bogus is fruitless - their position comes not from medical information but religious indoctrination.
It's on exactly this slender thread of redefinition that their fanatical opposition to funding birth control rests.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)it is estimated that they estimate that over 40% of fertilized ova never make it and are washed away in the woman's next menstrual flow...I guess that makes God the biggest abortionist of all time...
I see what you did there
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)caraher
(6,279 posts)I mean for estimates of the fraction of fertilized eggs that fail to implant absent any artificial birth control. For me, this plus the number of early miscarriages were pretty important facts in advancing my thinking from where it was when my mother explained abortion to me as "killing of unborn babies" to where I stand now.
I'm also amazed that the folks who equate fertilization with the beginning of human life are not marching to shut down the in vitro fertilization clinics. By their logic a lot of mass murder is underway there, too.
Edited to reflect the fruits of my Google research: an article that suggests up to 80% of fertilized ova won't make it to the point where a woman would even be aware that she is pregnant, even absent birth control. This combines failure to implant with spontaneous abortions. From page 3:
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)research for fundraising letters to donors. I was on the Alan Guttmacher Institute's website a lot so perhaps it was there. But I do recall that it wasn't just one isolated factoid. I remember seeing it several times. Try alanguttmacher.org and see if they still have that piece of data somewhere. I do know that AGI is a highly respected source of scientific data and reports on reproductive issues, My husband worked in public health for the state of CT several years back and it was a trusted source of data at the local and state level.
As you can see, I've found it independently as well... Google was my friend!
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)of caution.
I'm glad you found it. I'll have to store that away for the next time I use the info. I want to be as factual as I can...
caraher
(6,279 posts)with the deliberately provocative title, "Is Heaven Populated Chiefly by the Souls of Embryos?" (I wouldn't ordinarily link to Reason but this piece is actually quite good at probing the absurd consequences of equating fertilization with the beginning of human life.)
jwirr
(39,215 posts)Redford
(373 posts)While I believe teenagers should be taught that sex is something best done in a mature relationship with mature partners that are willing to accept the consequences, I think birth control should be free and available.
CTyankee
(63,912 posts)Giving kids accurate medical information about their bodies. Imagine that!
truthisfreedom
(23,155 posts)Clear and simple.
bushisanidiot
(8,064 posts)Who want something to condemn women about so they can feel self righteous