Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Contraceptive Use And Sterilization Among People With Disabilities, Gabrielle Y. Defiebre

Dissertations and Theses

Background

Approximately 20% of individuals in the United States (US) have a disability, with 1 in 4 adult women above the age of 18 having a disability. People with disabilities include individuals who may experience difficulties with mobility, cognition, independent living, vision, hearing, and/or self-care. Disabled people face physical/environmental barriers, provider-level barriers, and system-level barriers in accessing health care, including sexual and reproductive health care, and are more likely than people without disabilities to have unmet medical needs. Four recent studies have indicated that those with disabilities are more likely to have received female sterilization as a family planning service …