The Urban Institute studies reproductive health and access in the United States. Current projects include analyses of how access to contraception affects the lives of women and their families and an examination of progress, threats, and opportunities related to reproductive health care access.
Current Projects
Beyond Birth Control
Beyond Birth Control: Family Planning and Women’s Lives, funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, examined access to contraception and how access influences the lives of women and their families.
Primary Research Questions
- How does expanded access to affordable contraception affect short- and long-term socioeconomic and health outcomes for women and their families?
- What are the persistent barriers to contraceptive access and use, who faces these barriers, and how can these barriers be reduced?
Project components include developing and fielding a new nationally representative survey of women of reproductive age (the Survey of Family Planning and Women’s Lives), qualitative case studies, and secondary data analyses of federal surveys.
Publications
- The Relationship between Insurance Coverage and Use of Prescription Contraception by Race and Ethnicity
- Emergency Contraception Use: The Influence of Awareness, Attitudes, and Beliefs among Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic Black, and Hispanic Women in the United States
- Prevalence and Perceptions of Unplanned Births
- Access to Contraception in 2016 and What It Means to Women
- Women of Reproductive Age Lack Knowledge of Zika Virus Transmission and Effects
- Knowledge Gaps and Misinformation about Birth Control Methods Persist in 2016
- Additional Information on the Survey of Family Planning and Women’s Lives
- Survey of Family Planning and Women’s Lives 2016 Instrument
Feature
Blog Posts
- Time for Plan B
- Women want effective birth control
- An uncertain future for access to birth control in the United States
- Why Zika virus is sticking around—and what we can do about it
Reproductive Health Access: Monitoring and Analysis
Reproductive Health Access: Monitoring and Analysis builds on the Beyond Birth Control project by monitoring and analyzing changes in reproductive health access in real time. This project, also funded by the William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, tracks efforts to expand access to reproductive health care and challenges to reproductive health access, documenting how policy changes affect women in diverse circumstances and geographies.
Primary Research Questions
- What progress has been made to increase women’s access to reproductive health care?
- How much are women’s perceptions of and experiences with contraception and reproductive health care changing, and how do they vary by socioeconomic group?
- What policies pose the most significant threats to reproductive health care access?
- In the face of such threats, what opportunities can sustain or expand access to care?
Project components include refielding the Survey of Family Planning and Women’s Lives, qualitative case studies, a web-based communication platform for family planning providers, and secondary data analyses of federal and state surveys.
Publications
- "Everyone Should Have Their Own Choice": Women Share Their Experiences with Unplanned Pregnancy
- Insurance Coverage among Women of Reproductive Age, 2017
- "Birth Control Is Transformative": Women Share Their Experiences with Contraceptive Access
- Women's Concerns about Future Birth Control Access
- Women's Perceptions of Timely and Convenient Birth Control Access
- Health Insurance Coverage for Women of Reproductive Age, 2013–16
State Fact Sheets
Birth Control At a Glance Fact Sheets
Blog Posts