Doula Programs: The National Cost of Unintended Pregnancies

More funding angles for those interested in maternal and infant health in the U.S., including doula program managers. Put your ideas, interventions, and educational initiatives into action and make the case!

Reports reveal national cost of unintended pregnancies. Two new studies taking different methodological approaches arrive at the same conclusion: unintended pregnancy costs U.S. taxpayers roughly $11 billion each year. Both estimate that the potential public savings from reducing unintended pregnancy in the U.S. would be huge.

“The Public Costs of Births Resulting from Unintended Pregnancies: National and State-Level Estimates,” by the Guttmacher Institute, relied on data from 2006 to estimate costs for each state, which were then added together to arrive at a national total. The study found that two thirds of births resulting from unintended pregnancies (more than one million births!) are publicly funded, and the proportion tops 80% in a couple of states. The cost of those births, and the potential gross saving from helping women to avert them, is estimated at $11.1 billion.

A breakdown by state, using 2006 data, shows that of Michigan’s 127,500 births that year, 55,500 were publicly funded and 62% of those publicly-funded births resulted from unintended pregnancies. “At a time when policymakers everywhere are looking for ways to cut costs under Medicaid, these findings point clearly to a way to achieve that goal by expanding access to health care, not cutting it,” said author Adam Sonfield. “Investing in publicly-funded family planning to help women avoid unintended pregnancy has a proven track record. In the absence of the services provided at publicly-funded family planning centers, the costs of unintended pregnancy would be 60% higher than they are today.”

“Unintended Pregnancy and Taxpayer Spending,” by the Brookings Institution, estimated the cost of unintended pregnancy by counting 2001 national estimates of the outcomes of publicly-financed unintended pregnancies (births, abortions, miscarriages, and need for infant medical care) and multiplying those counts by the average cost per outcome. The estimates of the cost to taxpayers of providing medical services to women who experience unintended pregnancies and to the infants who are born as a result of such pregnancies range between $9.6 and $12.6 billion per year (average $11.3 billion). The estimates of the public savings that would result if these unintended pregnancies were prevented range from $4.7 billion to $6.2 billion per year (average $5.6 billion).

The Doula Programs blog provides a forum for doula program visionaries and implementers to consider common challenges, ask questions, and learn from each other. Patty Brennan is the author of The Doula Business Guide: Creating a Successful MotherBaby Business.

Posted by Patty Brennan on August 18, 2011 • Filed under Doula Programs
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