Most women in the US aren’t accessing family planning services, even as abortion restrictions grow

Most women in the United States haven’t received birth control prescriptions or other family planning services in recent years, a new report suggests, even as abortion restrictions have grown.

Most women in the United States haven’t received birth control prescriptions or other family planning services in recent years, a new report suggests, even as abortion restrictions have grown. Family planning – including birth control, emergency contraception, sterilization and counseling for these services – is an important part of health care, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These visits are sometimes the only interaction women have with the health care system, and inadequate access can lead to poor health outcomes. Some research also suggests that family planning services help prevent more than 1.5 million unintended pregnancies in the US each year. But in 2022 and 2023, only about a third of women of reproductive age – 35.7% – had received family planning services in the previous 12 months, according to survey data published in a report by the CDC on Wednesday. It was during this time, in June 2022, that the US Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision revoked the federal right to an abortion. Alabama is one of more than a dozen states that have banned nearly all abortions since the Dobbs decision. The new state law meant the West Alabama Women’s Center – now known as WAWC Healthcare – would have to pivot, and Executive Director Robin Marty knew that if her center had to stop providing abortions, she wanted to shift the focus to family planning services.