Through a project known as Contraceptive CHOICE, nearly 10,000 women between the ages of 14 and 45 in the St. Louis and Kansas City, Mo., areas were offered free contraceptives between 2007 and 2011. Abortion rates among that cohort were between two thirds and three quarters less than the national average for those years. For the 500 teens in the study, the birth rate was 1-in-159, compared to the 1-in-29 birth rate nationally--an 80 percent drop. But most teens would likely not receive healthcare benefits from employers although they might be covered under their parents' policies.
"We were essentially simulating Obamacare," says Gina Secura, of Washington University in St. Louis, one of the authors of the report. "It seems like a no-brainer, but it's a good example of what Obamacare could possibly look like if women had access to birth control options in terms of cost and education of different methods."
