Citation
Hayford, Sarah R. & Guzzo, Karen Benjamin (2016). Fifty Years of Unintended Births: Education Gradients in Unintended Fertility in the US, 1960–2013. Population and Development Review, 42(2), 313-341.Abstract
FERTILITY SURVEYS dating back to the 1930s show higher levels of unplanned fertility among disadvantaged women than among wealthier and more educated women in the United States. These findings were reinforced by qualitative research showing that high birth rates among poor women were largely attributable to unwanted fertility (Rainwater 1960). However, the advent of the birth control pill fundamentally changed the reproductive behavior of American women. Married women were quick to start using the pill, and unmarried women followed soon after, leading to a rapid decline in unwanted births (Goldin and Katz 2002). Demographers predicted that the US would evolve into a “perfect contraceptive society,” in which contraceptive use was universal and nearly all births were planned (Dixon 1970; Westoff and Ryder 1977). The widespread adoption of the pill was also expected to eliminate socioeconomic gaps by giving women and couples of all social classes a more effective means to plan, space, and limit childbearing.URL
https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1728-4457.2016.00126.xReference Type
Journal ArticleYear Published
2016Journal Title
Population and Development ReviewAuthor(s)
Hayford, Sarah R.Guzzo, Karen Benjamin