Annual Report 2014-2015 > Contraception

The Bixby Center is at the forefront of clinical and social science research to improve contraceptive options and services globally. Here are some of our noteworthy achievements in contraceptive research and services over the past year:

• We helped inform the federal decision to require health insurance plans to cover birth control without out-of-pocket costs. This decision has already saved women in the US billions of dollars in healthcare costs.
• For family planning clinics, we developed and tested a training that helped integrate IUDs and implants into routine care. Clients at those clinics had half the number of accidental pregnancies in the following year.⁷
• Our research showing successful integration of family planning services and HIV care contributed to adoption of this policy by the US President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief.⁸
• We’re examining shared decision-making and other best practices in contraceptive counseling, as well as disparities in family planning outcomes.^9,10,11

We continue to expand birth control options for women in the US. Our research contributed to the recent introduction of a new lower-cost IUD and over-the-counter EC access for all ages.^12,13

To learn more about our programs working in contraception, see Beyond the Pill, California’s Family Planning, Access, Care and Treatment (PACT) Program, Family AIDS Care & Education Services (FACES), the Fellowship in Family Planning, and the Kenneth J. Ryan Residency Program.

To help us continue to expand birth control options for women in the US and around the world, make a gift to the Bixby Center.