Understanding the effects of access to contraception on people’s lives
The Colorado Fertility Project is an interdisciplinary team housed in the Colorado Population Center (CUPC) and the Population Program at the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado Boulder.
Despite widespread claims that family planning improves women’s lives, empirical research has not previously shown whether contemporary US family planning programs impact people’s socioeconomic lives, whether such impacts operate solely through delayed or reduced fertility or also through non-fertility-related pathways, and for whom impacts are most pronounced. Our project rigorously demonstrates how access to contraception impacts people’s lives, including who benefits the most. We do this by evaluating the effects of a large expansion in access to contraception which occurred in Title X clinics in Colorado, the Colorado Family Planning Initiative (CFPI). Our project measures fertility using secondary data, and seeks to understand the relationship between family planning, fertility, and individuals educational and economic lives.
Researchers in the Population Program study population dynamics and human well-being in a large variety of contemporary and historical settings. Birth, death, marriage and migration combine with culture to shape the human experience. This powerful combination allows us to understand the dynamics of social and health inequalities, human responses to environmental change, and the causes and consequences of human migration for individuals and places. The Population Program offers an outstanding training environment and student research opportunities, and houses CU Boulder’s Graduate Certificate in Population Studies.
The CU Population Center (CUPC) is a community of scholars and professionals engaged in population research and training across the University of Colorado. CUPC affiliates conduct research on adolescent health, health conditions (including HIV/AIDS), health behaviors, and health disparities, and are quickly delving into the emerging field of biodemography. Migration is becoming an increasingly important determinant of national and regional population distributions, as well as an important determinant of the socioeconomic well-being and health of both migrants and nonmigrants. The complex interactions between population and the environment represent important arenas of inquiry for CUPC.
