Women Who Use Birth Control Are the 99 Percent

Reality check: Nearly every American woman has used some form of contraception.


Regardless of race, age, or religion, virtually every American woman who’s ever had sex has also used some form of birth control. Yet efforts to block millions of women’s access to contraception have reached new heights. Below, a quick reality check on just how widespread (and uncontroversial) contraception use is for the overwhelming majority of American women.

We Are the 99 Percent 

Contraceptive use among American women of reproductive age who have had sex (2006-2008). Note: Excludes natural family planning

Source: Guttmacher InstituteSource: Guttmacher Institute (PDF) 

The Body Politic

American women ages 15–44 who have had sex and used contraception, by race (2006-2008)

Centers for Disease Control and PreventionCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (PDF)

By Any Means Necessary

Contraceptive methods used by American women ages 15–44 who have had sex (2006-2008)

Centers for Disease Control and PreventionCenters for Disease Control and Prevention (PDF)

 

With web production by Jaeah Lee, Tim McDonnell, and Samantha Oltman

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Mother Jones was founded to do things differently in the aftermath of a political crisis: Watergate. We stand for justice and democracy. We reject false equivalence. We go after, and go deep on, stories others don’t. And we’re a nonprofit newsroom because we knew corporations and billionaires would never fund the journalism we do. Our reporting makes a difference in policies and people’s lives changed.

And we need your support like never before to vigorously fight back against the existential threats American democracy and journalism face. We’re running behind our online fundraising targets and urgently need all hands on deck right now. We can’t afford to come up short—we have no cushion; we leave it all on the field.

Please help with a donation today if you can—even just a few bucks helps. Not ready to donate but interested in our work? Sign up for our Daily newsletter to stay well-informed—and see what makes our people-powered, not profit-driven, journalism special.

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