How does the cost of contraception impact women’s futures?

There is no definite source of information about how personal finance and the cost of contraception impact a women’s decision about their concentrative options and how those decisions impact future life outcomes for women and their families. The long-term consequences of reducing or eliminating funding for contraception and family planning services have also not been well studied. This study aims to better understand how women’s access to contraceptive and family planning services changes based on the funding available to them. It also seeks to quantify the differences in various life outcomes for women who do and do not receive subsidies for contraceptives through a randomized intervention.

Study how removing cost barriers impact women’s conceptive choices

M-CARES aims to study women’s decisions regarding affordable contraception and family planning access. The study will recruit 5,500 patients, ages 18 to 35, who can become pregnant, want to avoid pregnancy, and have out-of-pocket costs for contraceptives.

From these 5,500 study participants, M-CARES seeks to understand the many different aspects and changes of these women’s lives, both before and after the intervention, including:

• Contraception, pregnancies, and childbearing
  
• Health and use of health care
  
• Schooling and training
  
• Work hours, jobs, earnings, and financial success
  
• Romantic and sexual relationships
  
• Parenting and children
  
• Hopes and dreams for the future
  
• Overall well-being
  
  

M-CARES is conducting this study within selected Michigan Planned Parenthood clinics where NORC staff introduce and screen patients for participation, collect consent, administer the randomized intervention, and administer a pre- and post-intervention survey before and after their visit with a clinician.

To further understand life course decisions and implications, we will ask M-CARES study participants to complete three follow-up surveys over five years. We will combine that survey data with large-scale administrative data to examine intervention outcomes related to contraceptive use, pregnancies, partnership decisions, and physical and mental health.