CDC finds earlier sex, declining use of family-planning services

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports use of a number of family-planning services by women in their prime child-bearing years dropped across the board in the late 2000s even as the median age for beginning sexual activity dropped to just past 17.

Among the 62 million women ages 15 to 44, 70% used family planning services such as birth control, pregnancy tests and emergency contraception, down from 73% in 2002, according to the latest National Survey of Family Growth (PDF). Use of birth control fell to 33% from 34% of women; birth control counseling fell to 17% from 19%; and even use of the cervical cancer screening Pap test fell to 60% from 64%, which reduced use of that life-saving cancer prevention test to levels not seen since the 1980s.

The report also tracked racial disparities in the use of family planning services, and not surprisingly found that black and Hispanic women were less likely to have received any family planning service compared to white women. “Whereas white women were more likely to have received their family planning services from a private doctor, Hispanic and black women were more likely to visit a Title X-funded clinic for their services,” the report noted.

The declining use of family planning services is alarming because numerous studies have shown having an unintended birth is associated with adverse social, economic and health outcomes for both mother and child. The report noted the median of first sex dropped to 17.1 years in the late 2000s compared to 17.8 years in 1988, meaning women today “may spend a significantly larger part of their reproductive years at risk of an unintended pregnancy” with less access to family planning services such as birth control.