Source: Authors’ analysis of Child Trends’ 2023 online survey of 1,016 patients with household incomes at or below 250 percent of the federal poverty level, who received family planning care in the prior year.
Notes: Chi-square tests to determine differences in these responses by age (18-24 vs. 25-34). Only estimates that differed significantly (p<0.05) across the two age groups are discussed in the text and are noted with an * in Figure 1. Sample includes the 1,008 respondents who provided valid responses to a survey item regarding actions taken following Dobbs.
Starting to use a method of contraception or switching to a more effective method (or considering doing so) were the most commonly reported actions selected by respondents in our sample (26.8%), followed by obtaining emergency contraception (EC) to have on hand (15.4%; see Figure 1). These results are similar to those found by researchers who looked at post-Dobbs actions among a sample of tele-contraception patients. Just under 10 percent of our sample reported that they had moved out of state (or had considered doing so) and a similar percentage reported that they had received a sterilization (or considered doing so).
We also looked at differences, by age of respondent, in the likelihood of taking (or considering) each of the reproductive health actions. Young adults (ages 18-24) are more likely to seek out abortion care than older women (ages 25-34) and face more barriers to accessing abortion care when they do so. Thus, this younger age group might be particularly motivated to take additional precautionary reproductive health actions following the Dobbs decision. Specifically, our findings show that over half (50.7%) of the young adults in our sample reported taking (or considered taking) at least one reproductive health action following the Dobbs decision, compared to 41.6 percent of those ages 25 to 34; similarly, young adults were 50 percent more likely to have reported taking (or considered taking) multiple actions (18.6% vs 12.2%). Young adults were nearly twice as likely as those ages 25 to 34 to have obtained EC to have on hand (21.8% vs. 11.6%) and were more likely to have moved, or considered moving, out of state (12.4% vs. 7.4%).
People often rely on abortion care to meet their childbearing goals by allowing women to discontinue an unwanted pregnancy (i.e., if they have already had the number of children they want, including none) or a mistimed pregnancy (i.e., the pregnancy occurred earlier than they wanted). In some cases, abortion care is used to preserve the life and/or health of individuals with pregnancy complications. In a policy context where abortion care is more limited, family planning providers can continue to support their clients’ fertility goals and health—particularly for their younger clients—by ensuring that their clients are aware of what reproductive health care options are (or are not) available in their state and providing them with the information needed to access these services.
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