Guttmacher Exchange

Dollars and Sense: The Impact of the Recession
on Reproductive Health

The sixth installment of the Guttmacher Exchange roundtable discussion series, “Dollars and Sense: The Impact of the Recession on Reproductive Health,” attracted 45 health care providers and administrators, program directors, researchers and advocates to discuss the recession’s impact on women’s contraceptive use and childbearing decisions and the role of publicly funded family planning providers in meeting the growing need for subsidized contraceptive care. Among the topics discussed were the role of community health centers in addressing the reproductive and other health needs of the growing number of uninsured Americans; how the recession is exacerbating existing health disparities between the poor and the better-off and among communities of color; and the important role health care reform will play in the current state of reproductive health services.

Dr. Lawrence Finer, director of domestic research at the Guttmacher Institute, provides an overview of key data on the impact of the recession on reproductive health and the growing income disparities in rates of unintended pregnancy and abortion. Click here to view his PowerPoint presentation, "Sexual and Reproductive Health: Growing Disparities" (also available in PDF)