How to Read Our New Contraceptive Access Maps

We recently launched our new contraceptive access maps in partnership with the Guttmacher Institute. The topline shows that 21.4 million women of reproductive age in the U.S. in need of low- or no-cost contraception live in a county with a contraceptive access gap. What does that mean for you or for access in your county? 

Let’s dig in, using counties in Georgia as an example to understand the first map view, Access to Publicly Funded Clinics Offering Any Contraceptive Services:

Counties that fall on the left end of the spectrum (represented by white) have the least alignment — or a larger gap — between the county-level clinic availability and women in need. For example, Walker County in Georgia’s Northwest appears in white, illustrating a low alignment (.48%) between availability at its one clinic and the county’s 4,760 women in need.

As the gap between county-level need and clinic availability lessens, the color of the county deepens from yellow, to orange, and finally, magenta. Seminole County in the Southwest, where alignment is 7.4%, is very pale yellow. In Central Georgia, alignment between county-level clinic availability and need in Twiggs County is 44.4%, and it is shown as yellow-orange. Telfair County (right below Twiggs County) is dark orange, where alignment between clinics and need is 51.4%, while Montgomery County is light magenta and alignment is 59.6%.

Counties that fall on the right end of the spectrum (represented by the darkest magenta) have the highest alignment between the county-level clinic availability and women in need. Rabun County in the Northeast is one of these counties. Importantly, even though we estimate that there is 100% alignment between service availability at the four clinics in Rabun County and women in need of low-or no-cost contraception in Rabun County, individuals may still face additional challenges in accessing care.

What can you do? 

• Share this information with your friends and family.
• Sign the petition to HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., asking HHS to fully support and not undermine or attempt to remake the Title X Family Planning Program (Title X).
• The Contraceptive Access Maps include Title X-funded clinics. The program has been underfunded for more than a decade. In addition, the first and second Trump Administration has worked to undermine Title X.