Understanding the Effects of Access to Contraception on Maternal Mortality

The USA has recorded very high maternal mortality rates in recent times. Between 2018 and 2019 the toll has increased from 658 to754 women. Approximately 2 billion US dollars were reported as public expenditures for family planning client services. In 2016, only around 20% of the likely needs were met by Title X-funded centers in the USA. The paper will investigate the effects of access to contraception on maternal mortality rates in the US at the sub-national level. The paper will analyse the data on family planning clinics at the US county level and investigate what explains their funding differences. Then we explore if that explains variation in maternal mortality rates. Better access to contraceptive health centers can aid in decreasing unintended pregnancies and maternal mortality. We find that clinics per capita and maternal mortality have a positive relation which goes against the theory. This implies that the analysis should include more relevant variables such as cost of contraception, male contraceptive use and socio-demographic factors.