The 131st Annual Meeting (November 15-19, 2003) of APHA

Abstract #71440

Jennifer J. Frost, DrPH and Lori Frohwirth. The Alan Guttmacher Institute, 120 Wall Street, New York, NY 10005, 212-248-1111, jfrost@guttmacher.org

Many low-income, uninsured and teenage women depend on publicly funded clinics to obtain the contraceptive services and supplies necessary to avoid unintended pregnancies. To assist program planners and policy makers in monitoring the adequacy of contraceptive care, updated information on the numbers and distribution of publicly funded clinics and the numbers of women served by these clinics has been collected. These data allow us to assess change over time in the numbers of clinics providing contraceptive services, as well as change in the numbers of women obtaining clinic care and the ratios of women served to women in need of publicly funded contraceptive care. This analysis will contribute to our knowledge of how recent changes in health care financing have affected women’s access to this critical service. For this study, we conducted a national census of the more than 7,000 publicly funded clinics providing contraceptive services in the United States, updating our clinic database and collecting information about the numbers of women and teenagers served in 2001. The presentation will describe the structure and volume of clinic contraceptive services in 2001, according to the clinic’s type, location and receipt of Title X federal funding. Similar data, collected for 1994 and 1997, will be used to assess recent change. Finally, we will compare the numbers of women served by family planning clinics to updated information on the numbers of women in need of publicly funded contraceptive services, nationally and by state.

Learning Objectives:

At the conclusion of the session, the participant will be able to:
• Describe the numbers of publicly funded family planning clinics and female clients served in 2001;
• Discuss changes over time in the numbers of clinics and clients served;
• Assess the adequacy of publicly funded family planning clinics to meet the current needs of low-income and uninsured women.

Keywords: Access and Services, Family Planning

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.