Reproductive (In)Justice and the Contraceptive Paradox: Women’s Experiences with the Promotion of Long-acting Reversible Contraception

• In Event: 2156 - Reproductive Control and Decision-Making

Abstract

In response to the consensus that unintended pregnancy is a social, economic, and public health problem in the United States, a new generation of long-acting reversible contraception (LARC) is increasingly being promoted as the “magic bullet” solution. While efforts to increase access to and use of LARC, especially among groups considered “at-risk” for unintended pregnancy, take a variety of forms, one approach involves state Medicaid policies that facilitate access to immediate postpartum insertion of LARC among low-income women. In this paper, I draw on a reproductive justice framework to examine the ethics and efficacy of South Carolina’s Medicaid postpartum LARC policy using interview data with 30 women who are Medicaid recipients and had at least one live birth since the policy’s inception. I explore participants’ views about and experiences with pregnancy, contraception, and contraceptive counseling in the context of the policy. The findings indicate that efforts to promote LARC use among this population have significant limitations and appear to be exacerbating the problem that the policy and its advocates aim to ameliorate.

Author

• Emily S. Mann, University of South Carolina