Daily Reproductive Health Report
Reproductive Health Services | Record Five Million People Visited Federally Funded Family Planning Clinics in 2004, AGI Report Says
[Jul 08, 2005]

Five million U.S. men and women visited federally funded family planning clinics in 2004, the highest number ever reported, according to the Alan Guttmacher Institute's annual report, which the group presented to HHS this week, the Washington Times reports (Wetzstein, Washington Times, 7/8). About 55,000 more clients visited clinics last year than in 2003, and about one-third of new clients were men, the report says. The report also shows that 86% of women who visited family planning clinics in 2004 -- more than 4.1 million women -- used contraceptives, primarily oral and injectable hormonal contraceptives and condoms. That percentage has remained steady over the past five years, the report says (Sowti, Washington Post, 7/8). About 48% of women reported using oral contraceptives in 2004, compared with about 62% in 1995. Researchers said women are beginning to substitute other forms of birth control -- including condoms, injection products, hormonal patches, vaginal rings and sexual abstinence -- for oral contraceptives. Federally funded clinics conducted 5.4 million sexually transmitted disease tests and 530,569 HIV/AIDS tests in 2004, the report says. Of the total number of clients visiting the clinics last year, about 4.8 million were women and 244,381 were men, about 50% were in their 20s and 29% were teenagers, and about 68% had incomes at or below the poverty level. In 2004, there were 4,568 federally funded family planning clinics with total revenues of $982 million. About 63% of their budgets came from the federal government, particularly Title IX and Medicaid funding, according to the report (Washington Times, 7/8).