Guttmacher Institute has engaged in the following activities in support of its commitment to FP2020.
- Generating estimates of unmet need: In December 2014, the Guttmacher Institute published Adding It Up: The Costs and Benefits of Investing in Sexual and Reproductive Health 2014, which provides updated estimates of unmet contraceptive need in the developing world and the costs and benefits of meeting that need. The report was launched at an event held at the British Library in London, which drew international media representatives, members of Parliament and representatives from colleague organizations.
- Promoting evidence-based messaging and data: To accompany the release of Adding It Up 2014, the Guttmacher Institute created a range of collateral materials designed to be easily accessible to a wide range of non-academic audiences, including policy makers, advocates, service providers and the media. These materials, all in English, French and Spanish, included global and regional fact sheets; infographics; and motion graphics (short videos). Outreach to media was extensive and global in scope, resulting in extensive coverage. Op-eds and commentaries were published in the Lancet, The Guardian, and publications in Asia, Africa and Latin America. Since the report’s release Guttmacher staff have conducted presentations of the findings to a range of key stakeholders including the World Bank, USAID, the U.S. Department of State, German parliamentarians, and a range of funders including the Gates Foundation. These presentations helped ensure the widest awareness of the study and its importance in informing policy and programmatic decisions related to sexual and reproductive health. This type of outreach reflects Guttmacher’s overall approach in releasing its studies, be they domestic or international in scope. The AIU collateral materials — news release, fact sheets, infographics and videos — all provided in English, French and Spanish are available here. Guttmacher is currently planning an adolescent-focused Adding It Up study to be released in spring 2016.
- Advocating to increase access to sexual and reproductive health services, including family planning: The Guttmacher Institute has continued to employ evidence-based advocacy in the United States and globally to increase access to sexual and reproductive health services that include family planning.
- In January, 2014 the Institute submitted an amicus brief to the Supreme Court, in support of the Affordable Care Act. The brief was cited widely in the media, by legal scholars, and by colleagues working to defend the health coverage guarantee.
Globally
- In December 2014, we made the case for increased investment in SRH in the developing world through the third edition of our Adding it Up report, which documents unmet need for SRH services and benefits of meeting that need.
We have continued to contribute to key relevant policy discussions through articles in our Guttmacher Policy Review, such as the ones below:
2015:
- Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights Are Key to Global Development: The Case for Ramping Up Investment (Global)
- Meeting the Sexual and Reproductive Health Needs of Adolescents in School-Based Health Centers
- Rounding Out the Contraceptive Coverage Guarantee: Why ‘Male’ Contraceptive Methods Matter for Everyone
- Marketplace Plans’ Provider Networks Are Just Not Adequate Without Family Planning Centers
2014
- Contraceptive Coverage at the U.S. Supreme Court: Countering the Rhetoric with Evidence
- A Surge of State Abortion Restrictions Puts Providers—and the Women They Serve—in the Crosshairs
- Looking Back While Moving Forward: Marking 20 Years Since The International Conference on Population andDevelopment (Global)
- Beyond Preventing Unplanned Pregnancy: The Broader Benefits of Publicly Funded Family Planning Services
2013
- Toward Equity and Access: Removing Legal Barriers To Health Insurance Coverage for Immigrants
- A Common Cause: Faith-Based Organizations and Promoting Access to Family Planning in the Developing World
- Leveling the Playing Field: The Promise of Long-Acting Reversible Contraceptives for Adolescents
- Implementing the Federal Contraceptive Coverage Guarantee: Progress and Prospects
The Guttmacher Institute has continued to employ evidence-based advocacy in the U.S. and globally to protect reproductive rights.
United States
- Continued to lead a coalition working to draw attention to the SRH needs of immigrant populations in the U.S., leading to the April 2015 reintroduction of the Health Equity and Access under the Law (HEAL) for Immigrant Women and Families Act in the House.
- Published the first known assessment of teen pregnancy, birth and abortion rates across a range of countries and regions, revealing that the U.S. continues to lag behind most other developed countries.
Globally
- Published the first national study of abortion incidence in Senegal and undertook a successful campaign to get findings and key messages into the hands of policymakers and advocates.
- Published an in-depth article, along with fact sheets and infographics on unsafe abortion and unintended pregnancy in Pakistan, which was covered widely in the media.
We have continued to contribute to key relevant policy discussions, such as the ones below.
2015:
- Abortion Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act: Advancing Transparency, Ensuring Choice and Facilitating Access
- The Global Gag Rule and Fights over Funding UNFPA: The Issues That Won’t Go Away
- Abortion Reporting: Promoting Public Health, Not Politics
2014:
- Implementing Postabortion Care Programs in the Developing World: Ongoing Challenges
- The State of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights In the State of Texas: A Cautionary Tale
- Guarding Against Coercion While Ensuring Access: A Delicate Balance
- Contraception Is Not Abortion: The Strategic Campaign of Antiabortion Groups to Persuade the Public Otherwise
2013:
- Medication Abortion Restrictions Burden Women and Providers—and Threaten U.S. Trend Toward Very Early Abortion
- TRAP Laws Gain Political Traction While Abortion Clinics—and the Women They Serve—Pay the Price
- Still True: Abortion Does Not Increase Women’s Risk of Mental Health Problems
- Insurance Coverage of Abortion: Beyond the Exceptions For Life Endangerment, Rape and Incest
- Abortion Restrictions in U.S. Foreign Aid: The History and Harms of the Helms Amendment
- Title X: An Essential Investment, Now More than Ever
The Guttmacher Institute has informed the work of policy makers, donors and civil society groups through our evidence-based messaging. The impact of our messaging is widespread: The Institute garnered more than 20,000 print and electronic media citations (2014), including in high-profile outlets like the New York Times. It also attracted
more than 7.5 million visits to our website, guttmacher.org, in 2014.
Specific examples of success in informing the work of key players in the U.S. includes:
- Released a detailed review and analysis of state policymaking in U.S. in 2014 that was covered in a wide range of news outlets, including the Washington Post, S. News and World Report, MSNBC, The Hill, and Cosmopolitan, and was cited in a high-profile New York Times editorial.
- Launched an online tool that enables family planning providers to input their service statistics and calculate the resulting number of unintended pregnancies they prevent, and STI cases and cervical cancer cases and deaths they avert, along with the associated cost savings, so that they can use these data to demonstrate their value to health insurance plans.
- Continued to document the significant impact of the ACA’s contraceptive coverage guarantee in enabling women to access their method of choice without cost-sharing
- Published an article in the Milbank Quarterly extending our analysis of the benefits and cost-savings of publicly funded family planning services, concluding that, in addition to averting 2.2 million unintended pregnancies in a single year, these services prevent thousands of STIs and deaths from cervical cancer, and saved more than $7 in taxpayer spending for every dollar invested.
