Offering comprehensive contraceptive coverage provides women with a basic reproductive health care need and saves employers money by preventing unintended pregnancies and promoting healthy pregnancies. Promoting healthy pregnancies and reducing the number of unintended pregnancies should be a strong priority for all employers.

Contraception is a basic reproductive health care need for women

• Seventy percent of childbearing age women in the US are sexually active and do not wish to become pregnant.⁵² And 64% of women ages 15 to 44 use some method of contraception.⁵³
   
• A woman is fertile for approximately 36 years. And women spend about 75% of their reproductive years trying to avoid pregnancy.⁵⁴
   
• Eighty-five percent of sexually active women who do not use contraception will become pregnant in a year.⁵⁵
   
• The Unites States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), the government-appointed body who researches the evidence behind and recommends clinical preventive services, recommends that all sexually active men and women receive periodic counseling about safe and effective contraceptive options to prevent unintended pregnancy.⁵⁶

Comprehensive contraceptive coverage is essential to prevent unintended pregnancies and promote healthy pregnancy

• Almost half of all pregnancies are unintended and nearly half of these end in abortion.⁵⁷
   
• Unintended pregnancies are more likely to result in low birth weight babies who are costly to care for (click here for costs).
   
• Planned pregnancies are healthier pregnancies, and healthier pregnancies result in better outcomes for both mother and baby.
   
• Healthy mothers and babies have lower overall medical costs and less disability. Healthy mothers have less incidental absence costs and higher rates of return-to-work.

Comprehensive contraceptive coverage is cost effective

• Contraceptive coverage saves employers money by reducing the direct medical costs associated with unintended pregnancies, including the costs for labor and delivery, miscarriages, ectopic pregnancies and abortion (click here for more on direct costs) and the cost of low birth weight babies, which are more likely with unintended pregnancies (click here for more on direct costs of low birth weight babies).
   
• Contraceptive coverage saves employers money by reducing indirect costs associated with pregnancy, including absenteeism, presenteeism and the cost of replacing workers (click here for more on indirect costs).
   
• Research estimates that over a 5-year period, the cost savings of providing contraceptive coverage ranges from $9,000 to $14,000.⁵⁸
   
• Research also shows that employers can realize a cost savings in the first year of providing coverage.⁵⁹
   
• The greatest proportion of unintended pregnancies occur in women ages 40 to 44,⁶⁰ when women are in the peak of their careers.
   
• Adding comprehensive contraceptive coverage is estimated to cost is approximately $25.31 per employee.⁶¹

Consumers Want Effective Contraceptive Coverage

• Most consumers think contraceptives should be covered in health plans.⁶²
   
• Survey research finds that consumers are willing to pay more out-of-pocket for contraceptives presented as being more effective for preventing pregnancy.⁶³