A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Kristine Hopkins, Celia Hubert, Kate Coleman-Minahan, Amanda Jean Stevenson, Kari White, Daniel Grossman, and Joseph E. Potter Introduction Female community college students who have a child while in college are 65% more likely to drop out […]
Topics of Expertise: Economic Inequality / Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health / Reproductive HealthFertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health
Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health
The Impact of Information about Abortion Safety on Texas Voters’ Opinions about Restrictive Laws

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Kari White, Daniel Grossman, Amanda Jean Stevenson, Kristine Hopkins, and Joseph E. Potter Introduction A substantial gap exists between the scientific evidence demonstrating the safety of abortion in the United States and public opinion about abortion safety. […]
Topics of Expertise: Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health / Reproductive HealthThe Impact of the Zika Epidemic on Women’s Reproductive Intentions and Behaviors in Brazil

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Letícia J. Marteleto, Abigail Weitzman, Raquel Zanatta Coutinho, and Sandra Valongueiro Alves Introduction The epidemic caused by the Zika virus has been a major public health shock for Brazil, particularly for reproductive-age women. The virus is […]
Topics of Expertise: Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health / Health & Illness / Reproductive HealthImproving Women’s Education Improves Maternal Health: Evidence from Peru

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Abigail Weitzman Introduction Maternal mortality in Peru declined over 70 percent between 1990 and 2015, from approximately 250 deaths per 100,000 live births to 70 deaths per 100,000 live births. Women’s education levels simultaneously rose over the same […]
Topics of Expertise: Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health / Health & Illness / Reproductive HealthHow Greater Travel Distance Due to Clinic Closures Reduced Access to Abortion in Texas

A Research Brief Prepared for the University of Texas at Austin Population Research Center Research Brief Series Daniel Grossman, Kari White, Kristine Hopkins, and Joseph E. Potter Introduction In 2013, the Texas legislature passed House Bill (HB) 2, a law that restricted access to medication abortion, banned abortions after 20 weeks “post-fertilization,” required doctors who […]
Topics of Expertise: Feminism & Families / Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health / Reproductive HealthCCF Civil Rights Symposium: Women’s Changing Social Status since the Civil Rights Act

Today the Council on Contemporary Families releases the third set of papers in a three part symposium marking the 50th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act. The first two sets of papers described changes in America’s religious and racial-ethnic landscape in the half century since it became illegal to discriminate on the basis of religion, skin color, national origin, race, ethnicity or gender.
It’s appropriate that we turn last to how women have fared since passage of the Civil Rights Act, because the addition of the word “sex” was a last minute addition to the bill. Opponents hoped — and supporters feared — that threatening to make discrimination on the basis of sex illegal would kill the bill, and when it passed anyway, few policymakers took the sex provision seriously. Although the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission immediately moved to ban job ads that specified a particular race, it refused to do the same for the sex-segregated want ads that were the norm in 1964.
Topics of Expertise: Division of Labor in Families / Feminism & Families / Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health / Gender & Sexuality / Health & Illness / History & Trends on Gender, Marriage & Family Life / Labor & Workforce / Work & FamilyYou’ve come a long way baby? Seeing men as more than sperm donors

Recent headlines such as “Men, Who Needs Them?” and “Why Fathers Really Matter” showcase a growing debate about the importance of including men in discussions of gender inequality. Two new studies from Gender & Society turn attention to areas in which men have long been ignored: at home, in the study of conception, pregnancy and childbirth, and at work, in the caregiving professions—particularly nursing. New research demonstrates under what conditions men’s contributions are slowly becoming more visible and what the benefits of that are (and can be).
Topics of Expertise: Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health / Gender & Sexuality / Work & FamilyMyths About Later Motherhood: Fact Sheet

Today, almost 40 percent of all babies in the United States are born to women over 30, and almost 15 percent – 1 in 7 – are born to women 35 and over. As the chart below of historical trends in women’s fertility rates by age demonstrates, birth rates to women aged 15-24 have […]
Topics of Expertise: Child Welfare / Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health / Gender & Sexuality / Health & Illness / History & Trends on Gender, Marriage & Family LifeValentine’s Day Fact Sheet on Sexual Health

What do you plan to give your valentine this February 14 – a bouquet of flowers, a heart-shaped box of chocolates, a candlelit dinner? Have you considered the gift that keeps on giving — a sexually transmitted infection? STD’s have reached an all time high, mostly because they are being talked about much less. Sexually […]
Topics of Expertise: Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health / Health & Illness / Reproductive HealthHow Should We Think About the Taxpayer Consequences of Divorce?

A new report, “The Taxpayer Costs of Divorce and Unwed Childbearing: First-Ever Estimates for the Nation and all 50 States”, raises the question of how much divorce costs taxpayers. This is an intriguing question, but unfortunately this report falls short on providing the answer. In the worst traditions of “advocacy science” the authors pick […]
Topics of Expertise: Couples Conflict, Separation & Divorce / Economic Inequality / Fertility,Reproduction & Sexual Health / Gender & Sexuality / Marriage & Divorce / TANF & Public AssistanceEXPERTS
Associate Professor, Department of Sociology and Center for Family & Demographic Research, Bowling Green State University
Research Scholar, Center for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine, UC Berkeley; Senior Editor, Los Angeles Review of Books
Professor of Sociology and Director of the Population Studies and Training Center, Brown University
Deputy Program Area Director, Child Trends