The educational impacts of expanded contraceptive access in the contemporary U.S.
Join this event to hear Sara Yeatman introduce and explore a large collaborative project designed to understand the complex impacts that contraception has on people’s lives.

Contraception has long been credited with improving women’s lives. Beyond the introduction of the Pill, however, there is surprisingly little robust evidence in support of this claim. In the context of growing state-level attacks on contraceptive access in the United States, this lack of evidence is both deeply concerning and problematic.
In the event, Sara will present the results of one paper that asks a narrower question: how does expanded access to contraception in late adolescence impact women’s attainment of a bachelor’s degree?
To answer this, she will harness a natural experiment created by a policy dramatically expanding access to contraception in Colorado between 2009-2014. Using individual-level longitudinal data created by combining eleven years of the American Community Survey with two full U.S. decennial censuses, Sara will explain that women exposed to the policy in late adolescence experienced substantial gains in college completion.
This event will be particularly useful for those interested in contraceptive access.
This is a hybrid event and you can attend either virtually or in-person.
Related links
UC Denver
Her research focuses on the causes and consequences of unintended fertility and HIV in sub-Saharan Africa and the United States. In current projects, she seeks to understand the meaning of unintended pregnancy for young women’s lives in Malawi. This research uses data from Tsogolo la Thanzi, her 10-year longitudinal study of young adults in southern Malawi. She is also collaborating with researchers at the CU Population Center to examine how expanded access to contraception impacts women’s and men’s lives in the United States.
Further information
Ticketing
Pre-booking essential
Cost
Free
Open to
All
Availability
Yes