Reliable information is needed on how personal finances influence the use of contraceptives. 

There is no definite source of information about how personal finance and the cost of contraception impact women’s contraceptive decisions and how those decisions affect life outcomes for women and their families. The long-term consequences of reducing or eliminating funding for contraception and family planning services also have not been studied well.

NORC is recruiting 5,500 patients for its survey on family planning.  

To understand how women’s access to contraceptive and family planning services change based on the funding available to them, Arnold Ventures and the National Institutes of Health have sponsored the Michigan Contraceptive Access, Research, and Evaluation Study (M-CARES). M-CARES also seeks to quantify the differences in various life outcomes for women who do and do not receive subsidies for contraceptives through a randomized intervention. M-CARES is conducted in partnership between the University of Michigan, Planned Parenthood of Michigan, and NORC at the University of Chicago 

The study will recruit 5,500 patients, ages 18 to 35, who can become pregnant, want to avoid pregnancy, and have out-of-pocket costs for contraceptives. From these 5,500 study participants, M-CARES seeks to understand the many different aspects of and changes to these women’s lives, both before and after intervention, including:

• contraception, pregnancies, and childbearing

• health and use of health care 

• schooling and training

• work hours, jobs, earnings, and financial success

• romantic and sexual relationships

• parenting and children 

• hopes and dreams for the future

• over-all well-being

M-CARES is conducting this study within selected Michigan Planned Parenthood clinics where NORC staff introduce the study to patients, screen them for participation, collect consent, administer the randomized intervention, and administer a pre- and post-intervention survey prior to and after they visit a clinician.