The typical American woman wants—and has—two children. She therefore spends roughly three decades trying to avoid becoming pregnant.
Contraception is key to helping women and their partners realize their family size goals: At any given time in the United States, over nine in 10 women who are at risk of unintended pregnancy (women who are sexually active, able to become pregnant and neither pregnant nor trying to become pregnant) are using a contraceptive method.

Neither contraceptives nor the people using them are perfect, and over half of unintended pregnancies occur to women who are using contraceptives during the month they become pregnant. But because the risk of unintended pregnancy in the absence of contraception is so great, 47% of unintended pregnancies occur to the very small percentage (7%) of women who are at risk but who are not using a contraceptive at all. These two factors largely explain why half of the six million pregnancies in the United States annually—including eight in 10 pregnancies among teenagers—are unintended. As a result, the United States has among the highest rates of unintended pregnancy and teenage pregnancy of all industrialized nations.

A significant proportion of American women rely on subsidized services for their family planning care, often because they are poor, low-income or teenagers. Many of these women rely on publicly funded family planning clinics for free or low-cost contraceptives and related preventive health services. These clinics are run by a wide range of community-based organizations and are located in every state and in 85% of U.S. counties.

Pregnancies and Their Outcomes

• Each year, 6.3 million of the 61.6 million American women of childbearing age (15-44) become pregnant. 64% of these pregnancies result in live births and 21% in abortions; the remainder end in miscarriage.

• In New Jersey, 211,480 of the 1,811,640 women of childbearing age become pregnant each year. 55% of these pregnancies result in live births and 31% in abortions.

• Over 800,000 American teenagers (ages 15-19) become pregnant each year. 57% of these pregnancies result in live births and 29% result
in abortions; the remainder end in miscarriages.

• New Jersey’s teenage pregnancy rate ranks 16th nationally (Nevada has the highest teen pregnancy rate in the nation and ranks 1st). Of the 23,080 teen pregnancies each year in New Jersey, 35% result in live births and 53% result in abortions.

• Unmarried women account for 34% of all births in the United States, and 29% of births in New Jersey.

The Need for Services

• 34.5 million women in the United States are in need of contraceptive services and supplies. Half of them need publicly supported contraceptive services because they have incomes under 250% of the federal poverty level (11.9 million women aged 20-44) or are sexually active teenagers (4.9 million).

• In New Jersey, 1,100,840 women are in need of contraceptive services and supplies. Of these, 395,100 women—including 134,570 teenagers—are in need of publicly supported contraceptive services.

PREGNANCY OUTCOMES IN NEW JERSEY

• Live Births: 55%
• Abortions: 31%
• Miscarriages: 14%

TEEN PREGNANCY OUTCOMES IN NEW JERSEY

• Live Births: 35%
• Abortions: 53%
• Miscarriages: 12%

• 14% of women aged 15-44 in the United States have incomes under the federal poverty level, and 19% of all women in this age-group do not have private health insurance or Medicaid.

• In New Jersey, 9% of women aged 15-44 have incomes under the federal poverty level, and 16% do not have private health insurance or
Medicaid.

Meeting the Need

• Each year, 6.7 million American women rely on more than 7,600 publicly funded family planning clinics for their contraceptive care. These clinics serve 41% of women in need of publicly supported contraceptive services and 39% of teenagers in need.

• Of the 94 publicly supported family planning clinics in New Jersey, 7 are run by health departments, 20 are run by hospitals, 33 are run by Planned Parenthood, 22 are run by community health centers and 12 are run by other types of agencies.

• Family planning clinics in New Jersey serve 129,630 women, including 31,880 teenagers. 3% are served by health departments, 13% are served by hospitals, 55% are served by Planned Parenthood, 17% are served by community health centers and 12% are served by other types of agencies.

Impact of Subsidized Services

• In 1994, $715 million in federal and state tax revenues provided contraceptive services and supplies to millions of poor women in the United States—thereby helping to prevent at least 1.3 million unintended pregnancies. This includes 386,000 pregnancies to teenagers, 888,000 to women who have never been married, and 842,000 to women eligible for Medicaid. These pregnancies would have resulted in an additional 534,000 unintended births, 632,000 abortions and 165,000 miscarriages.

• In New Jersey, publicly funded family planning clinics help women avoid 31,600 unintended pregnancies each year.

• Every public dollar spent on family planning services saves $3 in Medicaid costs for prenatal and newborn care.

Credits
This Facts in Brief was made possible by support from the Open Society Institute and The David and Lucile Packard Foundation. Definitions and Data Sources References for information contained in this fact sheet are available at http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/state_data/references.html