Explaining Variation in State Unintended Pregnancy Rates in the United States

Kathryn Kost, Guttmacher Institute
Lawrence B. Finer, Guttmacher Institute

This recently completed analysis of newly available state-level data provides the first-ever estimates of unintended pregnancy rates for all 50 states in the U.S, and reveals wide variation in rates across states. In this paper, we present findings from a series of bivariate and multivariate analyses of the relative impact of state-level demographic and socioeconomic factors (i.e., the composition of the states' population) on state unintended pregnancy rates. While a significant proportion of the variation in rates is due to differing distributions of demographic characteristics (age, race, ethnicity, marital status), other state-level characteristics also affect unintended pregnancy rates, including variation in income, health insurance coverage, and contraceptive use.