In selecting its first initiative, Every Woman Southeast was seeking to find an issue that a) represents a significant problem for women in our region, b) is of interest to a variety of agencies and sectors, and c) has some immediate action steps that could be taken to create change.

The state leadership team has developed a proposal that would improve reproductive life planning for new mothers and over time reduce the percent of short birth intervals in the Southeast. 

Did you know?

Among Every Woman Southeast states (DHHS Region IV), 45.6% of all pregnancies were unintended. African American women are more likely to have unintended pregnancies than Caucasian and Latina women (64.8%, 38.5%, and 43% respectively).

While almost 74% of all pregnancies to women 19 years of age and younger are unintended, 26% of this group of young women did intend to be pregnant. (RNDMU September 2009 Databook).

Data have shown that women whose pregnancies are not planned have a greater risk for poor birth.

Also in our region, 12% of live births are to women who have an interval between delivery and conception of 6 months or less. (RNDMU September 2009 Databook)  Studies have shown that short birth intervals significantly increase the risk of preterm birth and some anomalies as well as impact early childhood development and family financial stability.

Further, 14.6% of live births in the region were to high risk mothers as determined by age and gravidity. (RNDMU September 2009 Databook)

When women plan their pregnancy, health care providers and others have the opportunity to work with them to address healthy lifestyle issues, control chronic diseases, screen and treat sexually transmitted infections, make sure she receives any needed dental care, and provide guidance as to how she can increase her chances of achieving a healthy outcome.

Reproductive Life Planning

Reproductive Life Planning is one approach for helping individuals plan, based on their own values and resources, how to achieve a set of personal goals about whether or when to have children. Reproductive Life Plans are never right or wrong and they are likely to evolve over time. They are also relevant for men and women. Plans can include goals that women set for their lives in terms of education, relationships and careers as well as for the number, timing and spacing of children they may or may not like to have.

While the concept of Reproductive Life Planning is new, the process of guiding women through a planning process over the course of her reproductive years offers promise. Women’s life planning is empowerment based as it encourages women, and men, to think to their future and then access resources to help them along the way.

Next Steps

We are currently developing a comprehensive plan to begin our next steps on this goal. We are also seeking funders to support our Initiative and partners to help us move forward.