The study is significant because incarcerated women who are released into the community are at high risk for unplanned pregnancies, as well as medical complications to the mother and baby from alcohol and drug use.
"Women are accessing birth control services when they're made available in correctional institutions, and we should be making those services available throughout the country," says lead author Jennifer G. Clarke, MD, MPH, an internist at Rhode Island Hospital and the Rhode Island Department of Corrections (RI DOC), and an assistant professor of medicine at Brown Medical School. "If we want to help empower women in their recovery from drugs and alcohol, for example, we need to give them the tools so they can plan their pregnancy during a time when they're more stable."
The study found that women overall were 14 times more likely to start using birth control when it was offered in prison. Thirty-nine percent of incarcerated women started birth control when it was offered before their release, while only 4 percent took advantage of free birth control offered at a community health center after their release.
When researchers looked at women with similar background, education and sexual history, they found that women in the second group were 20 times more likely to use contraceptives offered in prison.
There are a number of barriers that may prevent women from seeking birth control once they are released. Previous research has shown that being Hispanic, married and homeless were associated with decreased contraceptive use. This study found that women who were monog
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Contact: Nicole Gustin
ngustin@lifespan.org
401-444-7299
Lifespan
2-May-2006