The Costs of Contraception

Abstract

The cost of contraception is one factor that affects the choice of a birth control method. An analysis of the first-year costs for the various methods, based on fees charged by private physicians and supplies purchased at drugstores, shows that the cost can be considerable and that there are large differences in cost between methods. Prescription contraceptives--the pill, IUD and diaphragm--are by far the most expensive of the reversible methods because they require medical supervision, but supplies alone are also more expensive for prescription methods than for nonprescription methods. First-year cost is highest for the pill-$172, compared with $160 for the diaphragm and $131 for the IUD. The mean of $154 for these three prescription methods is almost four times the mean first-year cost of $40 for condoms and foam. Sterilization necessitates the largest initial expenditure, and the cost of tubal ligation-$1,180-is almost five times the cost of vasectomy-$241. However, sterilization represents a one-time cost, while the other methods involve recurring expenses that may add up to more than the cost of sterilization over time. The methods that are associated with the lowest failure rates-sterilization, the pill and the IUD-are among the most expensive. To offset the costs of contraception, 4.6 million American women obtained low-cost care from subsidized family planning clinics in 1980.