Following the Evidence to Reduce Unplanned Pregnancy and Improve the Lives of Children and Families

• Author: Isabel Sawhill,Andrea Kane,Senator Thomas R. Carper
• DOI: 10.1177/0002716218770684
• Published date: 01 July 2018
• Date: 01 July 2018
• Subject Matter: A Policy-Maker’s View

ANNALS, AAPSS, 678, July 2018 199

DOI: 10.1177/0002716218770684

Following the

Evidence to

Reduce

Unplanned

Pregnancy and

Improve the

Lives of

Children and

Families

By

SENATOR THOMAS

R.CARPER,

ANDREA KANE,

and

ISABEL SAWHILL

770684ANN THE ANNALS OF THE AMERICAN ACADEMYFOLLOWING THE EVIDENCE

research-article2018

Keywords: unplanned pregnancy; teen pregnancy

prevention; poverty; contraception;

LARC; policy-makers; evidence

A

growing number of policy-makers and pro-

gram leaders at the federal, state, and com-

munity levels are committed to using unbiased

evidence to guide them in solving tough prob-

lems. This progress should be celebrated. The

bipartisan Commission on Evidence-Based

Policymaking, which sought to ensure that

policy-makers have reliable information and

evidence to help them decide how best to man-

age and improve government programs and

policies, has already played an important role in

institutionalizing the use of evidence and scien-

tific facts to create federal policy. In fact, many

of its recommendations have already been

incorporated in bipartisan legislation.

Here, we illustrate the role that evidence

can play in informing policy through an issue

about which the three authors of this article

care deeply—improving the lives of American

children and families by reducing unplanned

pregnancy. Specifically, we focus on evidence

and policy regarding one of the most powerful

and effective strategies to achieve this goal:

increasing access to the most effective forms of

contraception.

Correspondence: akane@powertodecide.org

Senator Thomas R. Carper is the senior U.S. senator

representing Delaware. Before he joined the U.S.

Senate, he completed 23 years of military services,

including three tours of duty in Southeast Asia, and

then served, in succession, as Delaware’s state treas-

urer, U.S. representative, and governor.

Andrea Kane is vice president for policy and strategic

partnerships at Power to Decide, the campaign to pre-

vent unplanned pregnancy, a nonpartisan, nonprofit

organization, where she leads federal and state public

policy efforts.