Trump's victory linked to spike in women getting long-term birth control

You might remember reports of women rushing to get long-lasting, reversible birth control in the wake of Donald Trump's election, fearful that his administration would restrict access and coverage for contraception by targeting Planned Parenthood or the Affordable Care Act.

New research published Monday in JAMA Internal Medicine provides fresh data to back up those breathless anecdotes. By looking at a large sample of commercially insured women, the study authors detected a "significant increase" in the number of women who received intrauterine devices (IUD) and implants in the 30 business days following Trump's victory.

During that time period in 2016, 16.3 per 100,000 women received what's known as long-lasting, reversible contraception (LARC). In 2015, over the same course of time, that number was 13.7 per 100,000 women. The authors saw a 21.6 percent increase in the number of patients who received a LARC after the election versus directly before it.

The researchers analyzed trends for the 30 days prior in both years and adjusted for secular, seasonal, and patient variables. When they took 2015 trends into account, they estimated that an additional 2.1 IUD and implant insertions per day could be attributed to the election.

While the study looked at more than 3 million women in both years, the authors argue that projecting their findings to the 33 million American women between the ages of 18 and 45 with employer-sponsored health insurance would suggest that there were an additional 700 LARC insertions per day in the month after Trump's election.

The study's results may not reflect trends for women who lacked coverage or had public insurance since the authors studied only women with commercial insurance. They also couldn't determine whether the uptick for LARC insertions lasted beyond the period after the election.

Data from 2017 wasn't yet available when they compared 2015 and 2016, but the authors say they could repeat the analysis for the same time periods during that year as well.

Lydia E. Pace, the study's lead author and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, said in an email that she and her fellow co-authors plan to examine longer-term trends.

"Our findings could reflect a response to fears of losing contraceptive coverage because of President Trump's opposition to the ACA or an association of the 2016 election with reproductive intentions or LARC awareness," the authors wrote in the study.

"Our findings also suggest that women with commercial health insurance value contraceptive coverage and that concerns about potential reductions in access or coverage may affect their contraceptive choices."

In other words, when the possibility of losing birth control becomes a reality, plenty of women will find a way to protect themselves for years.