Public Funding of Family Planning, Sterilization and Abortion Services, 1987

Abstract

In FY 1987, the federal and state governments spent +386 million to provide family planning services. Medicaid was the leading source of public funding, accounting for 36 percent of all public monies spent on family planning. Title X of the Public Health Service Act provided 34 percent of total public funds, and two block-grant programs--Social Services and Maternal and Child Health--together were responsible for 17 percent of public support in this area. State governments, which spent a total of +50 million of their own revenues for family planning services, accounted for the remaining 13 percent of public funding. The federal and state governments together spent +65 million to subsidize contraceptive sterilization services in FY 1987. The federal government provided 97 percent of the funding, 88 percent through the Medicaid program. In addition, the federal and state governments spent +64 million to provide 189,000 abortions to poor women; less than one percent of these funds were contributed by the federal government. These data come from a survey of state health, welfare and Medicaid agencies carried out by The Alan Guttmacher Institute and should be viewed as approximations rather than as precise figures.