1. Foster, DG. 2016. "Unmet need for abortion and woman-centered contraceptive care" The Lancet
Foster did a great job are summarizing some of the key points and shifting behaviors and patterns in contraception use and fertility patterns. What I find interesting is they mention that now the most common reason for unmet is not due to lack of access, but simply because they choose not to use it. I would be interested to see if this still holds true in other settings and across varying socio-demographic groups. As a native Texan, issues related to reduced access to reproductive health services and education material are always concerns at the forefront of my mind. Therefore I think issues related to access and use are more nuanced and specific to the geographical context. Similarly, findings related to abortion incidence highlight that criminalization does not prevent it from happening, alternatively we are increasing the risk of maternal mortality. I’m surprised abortion incidence has remained level, but Foster raises measurement concerns.
Another thought, I wonder how fertility patterns would change based on the acceptance and social norms surrounding men’s usage of short-acting reversible contraceptives (such as the pill once available) or increased acceptance around vasectomies. Due to my limited knowledge of the literature, I am under the assumption that family planning research (i.e. contraceptive use and unmet needs) on this area is underdeveloped and current literature does not always factor in partner preferences and current use etc.?
2. John Bongaarts (2003) Completing the fertility transition in the developing world: The role of educational differences and fertility preferences, Population Studies, 57:3, 321-335, DOI: 10.1080/0032472032000137835
Bongaarts establishes the well-known cross-sectional relationship between women’s education and fertility across transition periods. Declines in overall fertility were accompanied by declines in the fertility of all education groups. Noting that the fertility gap between the highest and lowest educated is still substantial. In addition, wanted and unwanted fertility is inversely associated with lvl of education. With the increase in education globally, through compulsory school policies and other programs, I wonder if we expect to see diminishing returns/effect of education on fertility preferences based on transition state. Also, I recently read that trends in the US indicate that women with higher education in developed countries are seeing an increase in fertility rates. Not sure of the validity of this (thoughts Nadia?). Further highlighting that fertility patterns are influenced by many factors specific to that location that are hard to disentangle.