Why family planning is a good investment

By Rita Martinez, Development and Communications intern

Guttmacher Institute’s recent report, Investing in Family Planning and Maternal and Newborn Health, demonstrates the significant benefit of investing in family planning. This research is based on empirical data from Singh S et al. study, which investigated the maternal and prenatal health of people in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Key findings included:

• More than half of all pregnancies are unintended, and of those, half will end in abortion (although the majority are unsafe/illegal);
• Deaths and poor health among women and newborns is unacceptably high; 137/1,000 women die due to complications and 11/1,000 newborns;
• 20% of women who give birth each year do not make the recommended four antenatal visits, and 13% do not deliver in a health facility.

Benefits of investing in family planning are also substantial:

• Fewer unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions and reduced transmission of STIs/HIV;
• Roughly 70,000 lives would be saved annually- 10,000 among women and 60,000 among newborns;
• Reduced cost of maternal and newborn care- family planning for all women would cost $880 million (now spending $600 mil), but the cost of maternal/newborn care would go down from $2.2 billion (recommended standards) to $1.5 billion;
• Most importantly, reducing unintended pregnancies would vastly improve educational and employment opportunities for women.

This report concisely and compellingly showcases the benefits of investing in comprehensive family planning. While it is based on research from Latin America and the Caribbean, I believe that it still lends itself to be applied to other regions where family planning is not widely accessible.

With the recent unveiling of some of the Administration’s regulations on what can be covered as preventative health care (the full list of services that will be included under the Affordable Care Act will not be released until August), this report is further support for the inclusion of family planning. Not only is it cost-effective, but it would considerably improve the health outcomes of thousands of women and children, as well as advance women’s rights.

NLIRH staff is currently working to develop an advocacy approach that will focus on placing family planning back on the slate. The urgent need for contraception coverage to be incorporated within the new health care reform is clear- it represents recognition of the struggle many women face day-to-day when accessing contraceptives and striving to make informed decisions about motherhood.

By Rita Martinez, Development and Communications intern