A new analysis shows that 21.4 million women in the United States need subsidized birth control services and live in areas with limited access. This analysis is provided by two reproductive policy organizations, named Power to Decide and Guttmacher Institute.
Limited access to services
This analysis includes two interactive county-level maps that update a map created by Power to Decide in 2017. Rachel Fee, the director of state and federal policy at Power to Decide, states that these maps are designed to illustrate the realities of access to birth control services for individuals living in low-income or rural areas.
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Severe gap in access to services
In Maricopa County, Arizona, the new analysis shows that there are 29 clinics using public funding for family planning, and nearly 300,000 women need subsidized birth control. Researchers estimate that only 8 percent of this need is being met, which is described as a "severe access gap."
Wendy Redford, head of the clinical department at Wesley Community & Health Center in Phoenix, states that this figure reflects the inability of specific groups to access necessary services. She emphasizes that even in a large city with abundant options, lack of financial resources, such as insurance and Medicaid, makes access to services very difficult.
New methods for measuring needs
Megan Cavanaugh, the lead data researcher at Guttmacher, explains that measuring clinic capacity and demand in each county has been a challenge. The team examined specific healthcare service providers and determined their capacity to see patients based on the patient load these clinics accept.
According to public and nationally representative data, 21.4 million women in the United States need low-cost or no-cost birth control services and live in areas where these services are not available.
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Source: npr.org
