The Educational Impact of Expanded Contraceptive Access

Amanda Stevenson , University of Colorado Boulder
Katherine Genadek, U.S. Census Bureau
Sara Yeatman, University of Colorado Denver
Stefanie Mollborn, University of Colorado Boulder
Jane Menken, University of Colorado Boulder

There is limited rigorous evidence on how control over one’s fertility affects the life course of women in the contemporary United States. Lack of adequate data and challenges in research design limit the ability to isolate the impact. This study focuses on impacts of fertility control on education by taking advantage of a natural experiment in the state of Colorado to estimate the population-level effect of expanded access to contraception on female high school graduation or postsecondary educational enrollment. Preliminary analyses show that increases in access to contraception through the Colorado Family Planning Initiative increased the likelihood of high school graduation.

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 Presented in Session 62. Fertility Timing: Causes and Consequences