SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (KELO AM) - Unintended pregnancies are at their lowest level in thirty years in the U.S. and researchers say it’s largely due to women’s access to birth-control options.
But Connie Lewis with Planned Parenthood South Dakota says lower-income women are still five times as likely to have an unintended pregnancy as wealthier women.
Lewis says that's because there are barriers to access to contraception. With the expansion of Medicaid and with the Affordable Care Act, people have access to contraception that they feel comfortable with, that's very effective.
Report coauthor Lawrence Finer with the Guttmacher Institute says the drop in unintended pregnancies is keeping pace with some of the goals in the federal “Healthy People 2020”plan.
Finer says there are a number of highly effective, long-acting methods, such as the IUD and the implant which a being used a lot more than they used to be.
The report also notes that fewer unintended pregnancies lead to less financial and emotional stress for families.
(Thanks to Greater Dakota News Service)