Can Expanding Contraceptive Access Reduce Adverse Infant Health Outcomes?

Abstract

This paper uses the rollout of a privately funded family planning program in Colorado to demonstrate that expanding access to long-acting reversible contraceptives to lower income women creates positive selection in the health of the children being born, reducing the rates of extremely preterm births and infant mortality. My most conservative estimates suggest reductions of 1.1 extremely preterm births and 1.1 infant deaths per 1,000 births, with the largest reduction in deaths due to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome. This suggests that expanding contraceptive access could help close the infant mortality gap between the U.S. and other leading economies.

Note:
Funding Information: This work has been supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (R01-HD101480 and P2C-HD06613).

Conflict of Interests: No competing interests to declare.

Keywords: Contraceptive Access, Infant Mortality, Preterm Birth; Family Planning

JEL Classification: J13, I18, I12