Family Planning

Why Is This Important?

Unintended pregnancies are associated with many negative health and economic consequences. Unintended pregnancies include pregnancies that are reported by women as being mistimed or unwanted. Almost half of all pregnancies in the United States are unintended. Government expenditures on births resulting from unintended pregnancies nationwide totaled $21 billion in 2010.

For women, negative outcomes associated with unintended pregnancy can include:

• Delays in initiating prenatal care
• Reduced likelihood of breastfeeding, resulting in less healthy children
• Maternal depression
• Increased risk of physical violence during pregnancy

Births resulting from unintended pregnancies can have negative consequences including birth defects and low birth weight. Children from unintended pregnancies are more likely to experience poor mental and physical health during childhood, and have lower educational attainment and more behavioral issues in their teen years.

What We Do

Family planning is one of the 10 great public health achievements of the 20th century. A priority of the Vermont Department of Health is to increase the percent of pregnancies that are healthy and planned. The Division of Maternal and Child Health supports programs and initiatives that strengthen the family planning system in Vermont.

The Health Department administers the Title X Family Planning Services Program. This work is carried out in partnership with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England, and supports Title X services in 10 Planned Parenthood clinics across the state. The goal of Vermont's Title X program is to provide high quality clinical family planning and related preventive health services, education and counseling to Vermonters who would otherwise not have access, with a special focus on low-income and rural populations.

For more information visit: http://healthvermont.gov/children-youth-families/f...

Who We Serve

We work to ensure that women and men across Vermont have access to quality family planning services, including services that support achieving a healthy pregnancy, preconception health care services, contraceptive services and screening for and treating sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS.

How We Impact

Family planning helps individuals prevent unplanned pregnancy or achieve intended pregnancy. Family planning empowers individuals to exercise personal choice in the number and spacing of children they have – even if the choice is not to have children. Family planning contributes to improved health outcomes for infants, children, women and families.