Dr. Megan Kavanaugh found that avenues for decreasing the gap between contraceptive methods used and those preferred to be used may lie with healthcare providers and funding streams that support the delivery of contraceptive care. 23% of participants reported preferring to use a method other than their current method, ranging from 17% in Iowa to 26% in New Jersey.
Health and Human Services hosted a roundtable to hear from reproductive health experts, including Dr. Megan Kavanaugh, to understand barriers to reproductive health research and expand access to affordable, high-quality contraception following the Dobbs v. Jackson decision.
In this analysis, Dr. Kavanaugh and her team examined sociodemographic and healthcare seeking profiles in three states from 2018-2021 where public funding for health services has recently changed: Arizona, Iowa, and Wisconsin. These data serve as a baseline to monitor access and use of SRH services in the wake of drastic family planning funding shifts that changed the availability and capacity of the family planning service infrastructure across the country.
Dr. Kavanaugh's research points to the need for policies that ensure access to a diversity of contraceptive sources. This will have the greatest likelihood of closing the gap between people's contraceptive access preferences and realities.
Read more about her findings here: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37099807/
Inequities in access to contraception based on ability to pay interferes with individuals’ reproductive autonomy, as shown by Dr. Kavanaugh's study examining the impact of a 2017 state-level policy in Iowa. Findings show that receipt of recent contraceptive care decreased, disrupting access to sexual and reproductive health care. This study supports the growing body of lit that supportive payment and funding strategies for contraception allow people to access the contraception they need.
