Principal investigator
Amanda Stevenson
Funding
Eunice Kennedy National Institute of Child Health and Human Development
Collaboration + support
U.S. Census Bureau; University of Colorado Denvery
Learn more about this topic:
When access to free and low-cost birth control is improved,听the percentage of young women who leave high school before听graduating falls by double digits, according to a CU 色吧亚洲 study听that followed 170,000 women for up to seven years.
The study focused on the Colorado Family Planning Initiative听(CFPI), a 2009 program that widely expanded access to听contraception across the state.
It found that high school graduation rates increased from 88%听before CFPI was implemented to 92% after, and about half of听that gain was due to the program. Improvements in rates among听Hispanic women were even greater. In all, the program decreased听the percentage of young women who left school before听graduating by 14%.
Put another way, an additional 3,800 Colorado women born听between 1994 and 1996 received a high school diploma by age听20 to 22 as a result of CFPI.